Which to use
“dour” is an adjective and “Dover” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,880
- “dour” frequency rank
- #13,502
- “Dover” frequency rank
- 63382
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dour | Dover |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stern, harsh and forbidding. | A town, civil parish (with a town council) and major port in Kent, England, the closest point to France (OS grid ref TR3141). |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dour and Dover apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dour is /ˈdʊə/ while Dover is /ˈdəʊ.və/. 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 (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dour is recorded at frequency rank #49,880, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdʊə/. Dover is at rank #13,502, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈdəʊ.və/.
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 63382, this pair ranks #83,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dour vs Dover
Shared letters: dor. Private to "dour": u. Private to "Dover": ev.
"dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Dover" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dour" and "Dover" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dour" or "Dover"?
Remembering dour vs Dover
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “dour”; for a name, it's “Dover”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dour” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable