Which to use
“dog” and “dun” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,326
- “dog” frequency rank
- #45,320
- “dun” frequency rank
- 53646
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dog | dun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cão, cachorro | penugem imatura em pássaros jovens |
Where the eye mixes dog and dun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. dog and dun follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses dog with dun
A purely visual mix-up. dog (/dɔɡ/) and dun (/duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dog is recorded at frequency rank #8,326, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɔɡ/. dun is at rank #45,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn].
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 53646, this pair ranks #11,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dog vs dun
Shared letters: d. Private to "dog": go. Private to "dun": nu.
"dog" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dog" and "dun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dog" or "dun" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dog" and "dun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dog" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dog" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dun". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #11,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.