docevsdueConfusable pair

Which to use

“doce” and “due” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,532
“doce” frequency rank
#24,954
“due” frequency rank
26486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes doce and due

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
doce
3 ch
due

Look-alike desk: doce vs due

A purely visual mix-up. doce (/ˈdo.sɨ/) and due (/dju/) 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 26486, 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/. due is at rank #24,954, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dju/.

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 26486, this pair ranks #42,671 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doce vs due

Shared letters: de. Private to "doce": co. Private to "due": u.

"doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docedcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · odce

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "doce" for "due" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdo.sɨ/ versus /dju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "doce" vs "due" - which ranks higher?
"doce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,532 in our Portuguese list, against #24,954 for "due". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "due" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,671 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doce" and "due" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs due". 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 #42,671 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