dot vs du, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dot” is a noun and “du” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,988
“dot” frequency rank: #5,187
“du” frequency rank: 29175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dot	du
Definition	dúvida	você, tu

Where the eye mixes dot and du

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

dot

2 ch

Look-alike desk: dot vs du

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dot is /ˈdot/ while du is /du:/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dot is recorded at frequency rank #23,988, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdot/. du is at rank #5,187, tagged as apron, pronounced /du:/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 29175, this pair ranks #39,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dot vs du

Shared letters: d. Private to "dot": ot. Private to "du": u.

"dot" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "du" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dot" and "du" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dot" is a noun and "du" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dot" or "du"?

"du" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,187 in our Portuguese list, against #23,988 for "dot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "dot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "du" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #39,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dot" and "du" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dot". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #39,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.