doentevsdoteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,318
“doente” frequency rank
#20,580
“dote” frequency rank
22898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doente dote
Definition que tem a saúde alterada bens próprios e exclusivos da mulher casada

Letter map: doente vs dote

Shared letters muted; letters that set doente and dote apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. doente runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against dote's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
doente
4 ch
dote

Role in the sentence - doente and dote

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: doente is anadjective and doteanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doente is recorded at frequency rank #2,318, classified as anadj. dote is at rank #20,580, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɔ.tɨ/.

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 22898, this pair ranks #47,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doente vs dote

Shared letters: deot. Private to "doente": n. Private to "dote": -.

"doente" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "dote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doente ← ddoente · deonte · doenet · doennte · doentte · doetne · donete · odente
  • dote ← ddote · doet · dotte · dtoe · odte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "doente" and "dote" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doente" is an adjective and "dote" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doente" or "dote"?
"doente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,318 in our Portuguese list, against #20,580 for "dote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "doente" and "dote".

  • Full dictionary entry for "doente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doente" and "dote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dote". 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 #47,037 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