Which to use
“doce” is an adjective and “dois” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,532
- “doce” frequency rank
- #109
- “dois” frequency rank
- 1641
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doce | dois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que tem sabor agradável, como o do açúcar, do mel ou qualquer outro adoçante | número equivalente a um mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha um elemento e um outro elemento distinto; representado pelo símbolo 2 (algarismos indo-arábicos) ou II (algarismos romanos); seu feminino é duas |
Where the eye mixes doce and dois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses doce with dois
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doce is /ˈdo.sɨ/ while dois is /ˈdojʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1641, 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/. dois is at rank #109, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈdojʃ/.
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 1641, this pair ranks #73,890 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of doce vs dois
Shared letters: do. Private to "doce": ce. Private to "dois": is.
"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "doce" and "dois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "doce" or "dois" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "doce" and "dois" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "doce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,890 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doce" and "dois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doce vs dodo". 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 #73,890 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.