DatevsdaubeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#580
“Date” frequency rank
#29,720
“daube” frequency rank
30300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Date daube
Definition Rendez-vous entre deux amoureux. Manière de préparer certaines viandes avec un assaisonnement particulier et de les cuire à l’étouffée à très petit feu.

Where the eye mixes Date and daube

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Date
5 ch
daube

Visual trap between Date and daube

A purely visual mix-up. Date (\dɛɪ̯t\) and daube (\dob\) 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 30300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Date is recorded at frequency rank #580, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛɪ̯t\. daube is at rank #29,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dob\.

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 30300, this pair ranks #311,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Date vs daube

Shared letters: ade. Private to "Date": t. Private to "daube": bu.

"Date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "daube" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dateadte · daet · datte · ddate · dtae
  • daubeadube · dabue · daubbe · daueb · ddaube · duabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Date" and "daube" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɛɪ̯t\ versus \dob\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "Date" or "daube" show up more?
"Date" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #580 in our French list, against #29,720 for "daube". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Date" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "daube" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #311,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Date" and "daube" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dabo vs daube". 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 #311,280 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