dig vs do, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dig” is a verb and “do” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,238
“dig” frequency rank: #6
“do” frequency rank: 34244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dig	do
Definition	cavar, escavar	contração da preposição de com o artigo definido o

Letter map: dig vs do

Shared letters muted; letters that set dig and do apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

dig

2 ch

Grammar separator: dig vs do

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dig is averb and doacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dig is recorded at frequency rank #34,238, classified as averb. do is at rank #6, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /du/ (/do/, se enfático).

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 34244, this pair ranks #33,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dig vs do

Shared letters: d. Private to "dig": gi. Private to "do": o.

"dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "do" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dig" for "do" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dig" is a verb and "do" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "dig" vs "do" - which ranks higher?

"do" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6 in our Portuguese list, against #34,238 for "dig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "dig" and "do". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "dig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "do" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #33,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dig" and "do" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,081 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.