dobradovsdouradoTell them apart

Which to use

“dobrado” and “dourado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,576
“dobrado” frequency rank
#6,055
“dourado” frequency rank
26631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dobrado dourado
Definition duplicado da cor do ouro

Where the eye mixes dobrado and dourado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dobrado (CVCCVCV) and dourado (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
dobrado
7 ch
dourado

Visual trap between dobrado and dourado

A purely visual mix-up. dobrado (/du.ˈbɾa.du/) and dourado (/dow.ˈɾa.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - b in “dobrado” becomes u in “dourado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dobrado is recorded at frequency rank #20,576, classified as anadj, pronounced /du.ˈbɾa.du/. dourado is at rank #6,055, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dow.ˈɾa.du/.

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 26631, this pair ranks #42,480 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dobrado vs dourado

Shared letters: ador. Private to "dobrado": b. Private to "dourado": u.

"dobrado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "dourado" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dobrado ← dborado · ddobrado · dobardo · dobbrado · dobraddo · dobraod · dobrdao · dobrrado
  • dourado ← ddourado · doruado · douardo · douraddo · douraod · dourdao · dourrado · duorado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dobrado" and "dourado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/du.ˈbɾa.du/ versus /dow.ˈɾa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dobrado" vs "dourado" - which ranks higher?
"dourado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,055 in our Portuguese list, against #20,576 for "dobrado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dobrado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dourado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,480 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dobrado" and "dourado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobrada vs dobrado". 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 #42,480 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