du vs due, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#5,187
“du” frequency rank: #24,954
“due” frequency rank: 30141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	du	due
Definition	você, tu	devido

Where the eye mixes du and due

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

2 ch

3 ch

due

Look-alike desk: du vs due

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: du is /du:/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while due is /dju/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “du” sits inside “due”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

du is recorded at frequency rank #5,187, classified as apron, pronounced /du:/ ouvir^(fonte ?). due is at rank #24,954, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dju/.

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 30141, this pair ranks #38,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of du vs due

Shared letters: du. Private to "du": -. Private to "due": e.

"du" · 2 letters · shape CV · "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "du" and "due" be used interchangeably?

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

Frequency check: "du" vs "due" - which ranks higher?

"du" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,187 in our Portuguese list, against #24,954 for "due". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "du" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "due" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #38,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"du" and "due" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs due". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.