dogevsdouseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: doge is a noun, douse is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“doge” is a noun and “douse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,008
“doge” frequency rank
#47,588
“douse” frequency rank
77596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doge douse
Definition The chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa. To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set doge and douse apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
doge
5 ch
douse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doge is /dəʊdʒ/ while douse is /daʊs/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doge is recorded at frequency rank #30,008, classified as anoun, pronounced /dəʊdʒ/. douse is at rank #47,588, tagged as averb, pronounced /daʊs/.

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 77596, this pair ranks #26,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of doge vs douse

Shared letters: deo. Private to "doge": g. Private to "douse": su.

"doge" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "douse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dogedgoe · doeg · dogge · odge
  • douseddouse · dosue · doues · dousse · duose · oduse

Frequency comparison

doge#30,008
douse#47,588

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doge" and "douse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doge" is a noun and "douse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doge" or "douse"?
"doge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,008 in our English list, against #47,588 for "douse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering doge vs douse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “doge”; for a verb, it's “douse”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “doge” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list