domvsdotConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,921
“dom” frequency rank
#23,988
“dot” frequency rank
25909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dom dot
Definition casa (construção que serve de moradia) dúvida

Where the eye mixes dom and dot

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

3 ch
dom
3 ch
dot

Visual trap between dom and dot

A purely visual mix-up. dom (/dɔm/) and dot (/ˈdot/) 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 a single letter - m in “dom” becomes t in “dot”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dom is recorded at frequency rank #1,921, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɔm/. dot is at rank #23,988, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdot/.

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 25909, this pair ranks #43,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dom vs dot

Shared letters: do. Private to "dom": m. Private to "dot": t.

"dom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dom" for "dot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/dɔm/ versus /ˈdot/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dom" vs "dot" - which ranks higher?
"dom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,921 in our Portuguese list, against #23,988 for "dot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,327 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dom" and "dot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dot". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #43,327 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