docevsdoloWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: doce is a adjective, dolo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“doce” is an adjective and “dolo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,532
“doce” frequency rank
#43,862
“dolo” frequency rank
45394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doce dolo
Definition que tem sabor agradável, como o do açúcar, do mel ou qualquer outro adoçante vontade livre e consciente de realizar uma conduta tipificada na legislação penal

Letter map: doce vs dolo

Shared letters muted; letters that set doce and dolo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
doce
4 ch
dolo

Grammar separator: doce vs dolo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: doce is anadjective and doloanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45394, 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/. dolo is at rank #43,862, tagged as anoun.

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 45394, this pair ranks #20,014 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doce vs dolo

Shared letters: do. Private to "doce": ce. Private to "dolo": l.

"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dolo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docedcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · odce
  • doloddolo · dloo · dollo · dool · odlo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "doce" and "dolo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doce" is an adjective and "dolo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "doce" vs "dolo" - which ranks higher?
"doce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,532 in our Portuguese list, against #43,862 for "dolo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "doce" vs "dolo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "doce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dolo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,014 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doce" and "dolo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dolo vs drogo". 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 #20,014 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