docevsduckTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,532
“doce” frequency rank
#23,302
“duck” frequency rank
24834
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doce duck
Definition que tem sabor agradável, como o do açúcar, do mel ou qualquer outro adoçante pato

Letter map: doce vs duck

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

4 ch
doce
4 ch
duck

Grammar separator: doce vs duck

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: doce is anadjective and duckanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24834, 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/. duck is at rank #23,302, 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 24834, this pair ranks #44,648 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doce vs duck

Shared letters: cd. Private to "doce": eo. Private to "duck": ku.

"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "duck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docedcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · odce
  • duckdcuk · dduck · ducck · duckk · dukc · udck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "doce" for "duck" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doce" is an adjective and "duck" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doce" or "duck"?
"doce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,532 in our Portuguese list, against #23,302 for "duck". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "doce" and "duck".

  • Full dictionary entry for "doce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,648 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doce" and "duck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dink vs duck". 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 #44,648 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