Which to use
“doce” and “dócil” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,532
- “doce” frequency rank
- #30,118
- “dócil” frequency rank
- 31650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doce | dócil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que tem sabor agradável, como o do açúcar, do mel ou qualquer outro adoçante | submisso |
Where the eye mixes doce and dócil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. doce runs 4 letters (CVCV) against dócil's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses doce with dócil
A purely visual mix-up. doce (/ˈdo.sɨ/) and dócil (/ˈdɔ.siɫ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doce is recorded at frequency rank #1,532, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdo.sɨ/. dócil is at rank #30,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɔ.siɫ/.
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 31650, this pair ranks #36,373 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doce vs dócil
Shared letters: cd. Private to "doce": eo. Private to "dócil": iló.
"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dócil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- doce ← dcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · odce
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "doce" and "dócil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "doce" or "dócil" 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 "doce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dócil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,373 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doce" and "dócil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débil vs dócil". 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 #36,373 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.