dire vs doze, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dire” is a verb and “doze” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,835
“dire” frequency rank: #3,982
“doze” frequency rank: 31817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dire	doze
Definition	dizer, falar	número equivalente a onze mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha uma dúzia de elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 12 (algarismos arábicos), XII (algarismos romanos) ou 1100 (representação binária)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dire and doze apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

dire

4 ch

doze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dire is /diʁ/ while doze is /ˈdo.zɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dire is recorded at frequency rank #27,835, classified as averb, pronounced /diʁ/. doze is at rank #3,982, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈdo.zɨ/.

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 31817, this pair ranks #36,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dire vs doze

Shared letters: de. Private to "dire": ir. Private to "doze": oz.

"dire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "doze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

dire ← ddire · dier · dirre · drie · idre
doze ← ddoze · doez · dozze · dzoe · odze

Frequency comparison

dire#27,835

doze#3,982

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dire" and "doze" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "dire" or "doze"?

"doze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,982 in our Portuguese list, against #27,835 for "dire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dire vs doze

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “dire”; for a num, it's “doze”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dire” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable