dobrarvsdólarWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#12,043
“dobrar” frequency rank
#5,412
“dólar” frequency rank
17455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dobrar dólar
Definition dar a alguma coisa uma forma semelhante à de uma curva; fazer inclinar unidade monetária de diversos países, dentre os quais, os Estados Unidos e Canadá

Where the eye mixes dobrar and dólar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dobrar runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against dólar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
dobrar
5 ch
dólar

Why the eye confuses dobrar with dólar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dobrar is /doˈbɾa(ʁ)/ [doˈbɾa(h)] while dólar is /ˈdɔ.laɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dobrar is recorded at frequency rank #12,043, classified as averb, pronounced /doˈbɾa(ʁ)/ [doˈbɾa(h)]. dólar is at rank #5,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɔ.laɾ/.

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 17455, this pair ranks #53,786 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dobrar vs dólar

Shared letters: adr. Private to "dobrar": bo. Private to "dólar": ló.

"dobrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dólar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dobrar ← dborar · ddobrar · dobarr · dobbrar · dobrarr · dobrra · dobrrar · dorbar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dobrar" and "dólar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dobrar" is a verb and "dólar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dobrar" or "dólar"?
"dólar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,412 in our Portuguese list, against #12,043 for "dobrar". 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 "dobrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dólar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,786 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dobrar" and "dólar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobrar vs domar". 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 #53,786 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