DorevsdouseConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#47,586
“Dore” frequency rank
#47,588
“douse” frequency rank
95174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dore douse
Definition A diminutive of the male given name Isidore. To plunge suddenly into water; to duck; to immerse.

Letter map: Dore vs douse

Shared letters muted; letters that set Dore and douse apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Dore 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.

4 ch
Dore
5 ch
douse

Grammar separator: Dore vs douse

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Dore is aname and douseaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dore is recorded at frequency rank #47,586, classified as aname. 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 95174, this pair ranks #1,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Dore vs douse

Shared letters: deo. Private to "Dore": r. Private to "douse": su.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dore ← ddore · dorre · droe
  • douse ← ddouse · dosue · doues · dousse · duose · oduse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Dore" for "douse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dore" is a name and "douse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Dore" vs "douse" - which ranks higher?
"Dore" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #47,586 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.

After this comparison

You've compared "Dore" and "douse". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dore" 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 #1,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dore" and "douse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dore 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 #1,059 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