Which to use
“doca” is a noun and “dona” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,985
- “doca” frequency rank
- #2,475
- “dona” frequency rank
- 26460
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doca | dona |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ruim, mau |
Where the eye mixes doca and dona
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: doca vs dona
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doca is /ˈdɔ.kɐ/ while dona is /ˈt̪ɔnə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “doca” becomes n in “dona”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26460, 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/. 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 26460, this pair ranks #42,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doca vs dona
Shared letters: ado. Private to "doca": c. Private to "dona": n.
"doca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dona" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "doca" for "dona" ever safe?
Frequency check: "doca" vs "dona" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "doca" and "dona" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "doca" 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 #42,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doca" and "dona" 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 #42,694 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.