Which to use
“danse” and “dons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,658
- “danse” frequency rank
- #4,067
- “dons” frequency rank
- 5725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danse | dons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement du corps exécuté en cadence, à pas mesurés, et au son d’instruments ou de la voix. | Pluriel de don. |
Where the eye mixes danse and dons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. danse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against dons's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: danse vs dons
A purely visual mix-up. danse (\dɑ̃s\) and dons (\dɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
danse is recorded at frequency rank #1,658, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃s\. dons is at rank #4,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔ̃\.
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 5725, this pair ranks #428,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of danse vs dons
Shared letters: dns. Private to "danse": ae. Private to "dons": o.
"danse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "dons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "danse" for "dons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "danse" vs "dons" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "danse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,223 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "danse" and "dons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dons". 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 #428,223 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.