dievsdoneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: die is a article, done is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“die” is an article and “done” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,038
“die” frequency rank
#23,299
“done” frequency rank
35337
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature die done
Definition o, a, os, as, artigo definido: particípio do verbo do

Where the eye mixes die and done

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
die
4 ch
done

Why the eye confuses die with done

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: die is /di/ while done is /dʌn/; /dɐn/; /dʊn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

die is recorded at frequency rank #12,038, classified as anarticle, pronounced /di/. done is at rank #23,299, tagged as averb, pronounced /dʌn/; /dɐn/; /dʊn/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 35337, this pair ranks #31,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of die vs done

Shared letters: de. Private to "die": i. Private to "done": no.

"die" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doneddone · dnoe · doen · donne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "die" for "done" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "die" is an article and "done" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "die" vs "done" - which ranks higher?
"die" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,038 in our Portuguese list, against #23,299 for "done". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "die" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "done" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "die" and "done" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dodo vs done". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #31,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list