datéevsdoteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,946
“datée” frequency rank
#22,237
“dote” frequency rank
34183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature datée dote
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de dater. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de doter.

Where the eye mixes datée and dote

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

5 ch
datée
4 ch
dote

Look-alike desk: datée vs dote

A purely visual mix-up. datée (\da.te\) and dote (\dɔt\) 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 34183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

datée is recorded at frequency rank #11,946, classified as averb, pronounced \da.te\. dote is at rank #22,237, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔt\.

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 34183, this pair ranks #285,585 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of datée vs dote

Shared letters: det. Private to "datée": . Private to "dote": o.

"datée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "dote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doteddote · doet · dotte · dtoe · odte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "datée" and "dote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\da.te\ versus \dɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "datée" or "dote" show up more?
"datée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,946 in our French list, against #22,237 for "dote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "datée" and "dote" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "datée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,585 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "datée" and "dote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dote". 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 #285,585 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