dotvsdunWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,988
“dot” frequency rank
#45,320
“dun” frequency rank
69308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dot dun
Definition dúvida penugem imatura em pássaros jovens

Where the eye mixes dot and dun

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

3 ch
dot
3 ch
dun

Visual trap between dot and dun

A purely visual mix-up. dot (/ˈdot/) 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 69308, 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/. 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 69308, this pair ranks #3,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dot vs dun

Shared letters: d. Private to "dot": ot. Private to "dun": nu.

"dot" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dot" and "dun" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdot/ versus /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dot" or "dun"?
"dot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,988 in our Portuguese list, against #45,320 for "dun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "dot" and "dun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dot" 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 #3,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dot" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,985 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