digvsdonWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#34,238
“dig” frequency rank
#4,306
“don” frequency rank
38544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dig don
Definition cavar, escavar professor universitário (especialmente da Universidade de Oxford ou de Cambridge)

Letter map: dig vs don

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

3 ch
dig
3 ch
don

Part-of-speech tell for dig / don

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dig is averb and donanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dig is recorded at frequency rank #34,238, classified as averb. don is at rank #4,306, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?).

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 38544, this pair ranks #27,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dig vs don

Shared letters: d. Private to "dig": gi. Private to "don": no.

"dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "don" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dig" and "don" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dig" is a verb and "don" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dig" or "don"?
"don" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,306 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dig" and "don".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "don" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dig" and "don" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #27,881 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