Which to use
“doca” is a noun and “doce” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,985
- “doca” frequency rank
- #1,532
- “doce” frequency rank
- 25517
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doca | doce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | parte abrigada de um porto, dispondo de cais acostável, onde se podem recolher embarcações para fugir do mau tempo ou para carregar e descarregar mercadorias | que tem sabor agradável, como o do açúcar, do mel ou qualquer outro adoçante |
Where the eye mixes doca and doce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between doca and doce
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doca is /ˈdɔ.kɐ/ while doce is /ˈdo.sɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “doca” becomes e in “doce”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doca is recorded at frequency rank #23,985, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɔ.kɐ/. doce is at rank #1,532, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdo.sɨ/.
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 25517, this pair ranks #43,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doca vs doce
Shared letters: cdo. Private to "doca": a. Private to "doce": e.
"doca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "doca" and "doce" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "doca" or "doce" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "doca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doca" and "doce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doca 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 #43,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.