Which to use
“dengue” and “dongle” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,502
- “dengue” frequency rank
- #45,892
- “dongle” frequency rank
- 77394
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dengue | dongle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain. | Any small device that plugs into an electronic device, typically a computer, and alters its functionality. Common examples include wireless modems, digital media players, software copy protect devices, and adapters. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dengue and dongle apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
dengue and dongle form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dengue is recorded at frequency rank #31,502, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛŋ.ɡi/. dongle is at rank #45,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɒŋɡl̩/.
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 77394, this pair ranks #27,413 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dengue" and "dongle" be used interchangeably?
Remembering dengue vs dongle
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dengue” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable