DigbyvsdobbyConfusable pair

Quick tell: Digby is a name, dobby is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Digby” is a name and “dobby” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,418
“Digby” frequency rank
#45,337
“dobby” frequency rank
82755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Digby dobby
Definition A suburb of Exeter, Devon, England (OS grid ref SX9591). A device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns.

Letter map: Digby vs dobby

Shared letters muted; letters that set Digby and dobby apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
Digby
5 ch
dobby

Grammar separator: Digby vs dobby

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Digby is aname and dobbyanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Digby is recorded at frequency rank #37,418, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈdɪɡ.bi/. dobby is at rank #45,337, tagged as anoun.

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 82755, this pair ranks #15,134 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Digby vs dobby

Shared letters: bdy. Private to "Digby": gi. Private to "dobby": o.

"Digby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dobby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Digbyddigby · dgiby · dibgy · digbby · digbyy · diggby · digyb · idgby
  • dobbydboby · ddobby · dobbyy · doby · dobyb · odbby

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Digby" for "dobby" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Digby" is a name and "dobby" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Digby" or "dobby" show up more?
"Digby" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,418 in our English list, against #45,337 for "dobby". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Digby" and "dobby".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Digby" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dobby" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,134 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Digby" and "dobby" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobby vs downy". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #15,134 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list