Which to use
“do” is a contraction and “dona” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6
- “do” frequency rank
- #2,475
- “dona” frequency rank
- 2481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | do | dona |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição de com o artigo definido o | ruim, mau |
Where the eye mixes do and dona
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between do and dona
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: do is /du/ (/do/, se enfático) while dona is /ˈt̪ɔnə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “do” sits inside “dona”, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
do is recorded at frequency rank #6, classified as acontraction, pronounced /du/ (/do/, se enfático). dona is at rank #2,475, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈt̪ɔnə/.
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 2481, this pair ranks #72,898 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of do vs dona
Shared letters: do. Private to "do": -. Private to "dona": an.
"do" · 2 letters · shape CV · "dona" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dona ← ddona · dnoa · doan · donna
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "do" and "dona" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "do" or "dona"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "do" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dona" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,898 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "do" and "dona" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dona vs doula". 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 #72,898 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.