douteux

\du.tø\

/\du.tø\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“douteux” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #9,641 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.

#9,641
frequency rank, French
7
letters
9
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est l'objet d'un doute, faute d'éléments suffisants d'information.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

douteux vs doutez
71% similar
douteux vs doute
71% similar
douteux vs doutes
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for douteux
PropertyValue
Headworddouteux
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\du.tø\
Letters7
Frequency rank#9,641
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “douteux” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). douteux lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for douteux is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \du.tø\. Corpus data places it at rank #9,641 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for douteux, with forms such as "ddouteux", "dotueux", and "douetux". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "doutez", "doute", "doutes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is douteux, spelled D-O-U-T-E-U-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est l'objet d'un doute, faute d'éléments suffisants d'information.
  2. 2
    Qualifie les personnes sur qui l’on ne peut pas trop compter, dont on n’est pas sûr.
  3. 3
    Qui est équivoque, ambigu, qui provoque le doute.
  4. 4
    Qualifie un jour faible, le degré de lumière qui forme le passage du jour à la nuit ou de la nuit au jour.
  5. 5
    Qui est longue ou brève dans le vers, suivant la place qu’elle y occupe.
  6. 6
    Moralement mauvais.
  7. 7
    Qui n'est pas conforme au bon goût ou à la bienséance.

Synonyms

incertaindiscutablecontestabledubitabledoutableimprobable

Antonyms

assurécertainindubitable

This word in other languages

doubtful(English)dudoso(Español)zweifelhaft(Deutsch)incerto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddouteux,dotueux,douetux,douteuxx,doutexu,doutteux,doutuex,duoteux,oduteux

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of douteux - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ddouteux1dotueux2douetux2douteuxx1doutexu2doutteux1doutuex2duoteux2
Edit distance from "douteux"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "douteux"?
"douteux" is spelled D-O-U-T-E-U-X. The IPA pronunciation is \du.tø\.
What does "douteux" mean?
As an adjective, "douteux" means: Qui est l'objet d'un doute, faute d'éléments suffisants d'information.
What words are commonly confused with "douteux"?
"douteux" is commonly confused with "doutez", "doute", "doutes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "douteux"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "douteux" is \du.tø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "douteux" come from?
"douteux" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “douteux”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is D-O-U-T-E-U-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \du.tø\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “doutez” - see the side-by-side comparison. douteux vs doutez
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list