DatevsdattesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Date” and “dattes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#580
“Date” frequency rank
#34,053
“dattes” frequency rank
34633
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Date dattes
Definition Rendez-vous entre deux amoureux. Pluriel de datte.

Where the eye mixes Date and dattes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Date
6 ch
dattes

Visual trap between Date and dattes

A purely visual mix-up. Date (\dɛɪ̯t\) and dattes (\dat\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Date is recorded at frequency rank #580, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛɪ̯t\. dattes is at rank #34,053, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dat\.

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 34633, this pair ranks #282,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Date vs dattes

Shared letters: adet. Private to "Date": -. Private to "dattes": s.

"Date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dattes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dateadte · daet · datte · ddate · dtae
  • dattesadttes · datets · dattess · dattse · ddattes · dtates

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Date" for "dattes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dɛɪ̯t\ versus \dat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Date" or "dattes"?
"Date" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #580 in our French list, against #34,053 for "dattes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Date" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dattes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Date" and "dattes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "datées vs dattes". 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 #282,461 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list