Which to use
“dole” and “douse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,808
- “dole” frequency rank
- #47,588
- “douse” frequency rank
- 66396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dole | douse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To distribute in small amounts; to share out small portions of a meager resource. | To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse. |
Where the eye mixes dole and douse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dole runs 4 letters (CVCV) against douse's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dole and douse
A purely visual mix-up. dole (/dəʊl/) and douse (/daʊs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dole is recorded at frequency rank #18,808, classified as averb, pronounced /dəʊl/. 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 66396, this pair ranks #68,194 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dole vs douse
Shared letters: deo. Private to "dole": l. Private to "douse": su.
"dole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "douse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dole" and "douse" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dole" vs "douse" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "douse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,194 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dole" and "douse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dour vs douse". 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 #68,194 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.