Which to use
“dont” is a contraction and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,856
- “dont” frequency rank
- #49,880
- “dour” frequency rank
- 51736
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dont | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Misspelling of don't. | Stern, harsh and forbidding. |
Letter map: dont vs dour
Shared letters muted; letters that set dont and dour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. dont (CVCC) and dour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - dont and dour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dont is acontraction and douranadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dont is recorded at frequency rank #1,856, classified as acontraction. dour is at rank #49,880, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdʊə/.
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 51736, this pair ranks #162,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dont vs dour
Shared letters: do. Private to "dont": nt. Private to "dour": ru.
"dont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dont" and "dour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dont" vs "dour" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "dont" vs "dour" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "dont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dont" and "dour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dour vs dox". 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 #162,967 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.