digvsdogsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dig is a verb, dogs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#34,238
“dig” frequency rank
#18,312
“dogs” frequency rank
52550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dig dogs
Definition cavar, escavar plural de dog

Letter map: dig vs dogs

Shared letters muted; letters that set dig and dogs apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. dig runs 3 letters (CVC) against dogs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
dig
4 ch
dogs

Grammar separator: dig vs dogs

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dig is averb and dogsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dig is recorded at frequency rank #34,238, classified as averb. dogs is at rank #18,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɔɡz/.

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 52550, this pair ranks #12,685 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dig vs dogs

Shared letters: dg. Private to "dig": i. Private to "dogs": os.

"dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dogs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dogs ← ddogs · dgos · doggs · dogss · dosg · odgs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dig" for "dogs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dig" is a verb and "dogs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dig" or "dogs" show up more?
"dogs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,312 in our Portuguese list, against #34,238 for "dig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dogs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,685 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dig" and "dogs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dig". 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 #12,685 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