damnévsdonneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: damné is a adjective, donne is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“damné” is an adjective and “donne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,376
“damné” frequency rank
#326
“donne” frequency rank
43702
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature damné donne
Definition Qui est condamné aux peines de l’enfer, qui est puni des peines de l’enfer. Action de donner, de distribuer les cartes, dans un jeu de cartes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set damné and donne apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
damné
5 ch
donne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: damné is \dɑ.ne\ while donne is \dɔn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

damné is recorded at frequency rank #43,376, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɑ.ne\. donne is at rank #326, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔn\.

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 43702, this pair ranks #216,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of damné vs donne

Shared letters: dn. Private to "damné": amé. Private to "donne": eo.

"damné" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "donne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • donneddonne · dnone · donen · odnne

Frequency comparison

damné#43,376
donne#326

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "damné" and "donne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "damné" is an adjective and "donne" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "damné" or "donne"?
"donne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #326 in our French list, against #43,376 for "damné". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering damné vs donne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “damné”; for a noun, it's “donne”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “damné” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list