Which to use
“dot” is a noun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,564
- “dot” frequency rank
- #49,880
- “dour” frequency rank
- 56444
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dot | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small, round spot. | Stern, harsh and forbidding. |
Where the eye mixes dot and dour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dot is /dɒt/ while dour is /ˈdʊə/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dot is recorded at frequency rank #6,564, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɒt/. 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 56444, this pair ranks #126,257 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dot vs dour
Shared letters: do. Private to "dot": t. Private to "dour": ru.
"dot" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dour ← ddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur