Which to use
“débiles” and “dociles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,362
- “débiles” frequency rank
- #40,716
- “dociles” frequency rank
- 53078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débiles | dociles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de débile. | Pluriel de docile. |
Where the eye mixes débiles and dociles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. débiles and dociles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: débiles vs dociles
A purely visual mix-up. débiles (\de.bil\) and dociles (\dɔ.sil\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débiles is recorded at frequency rank #12,362, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bil\. dociles is at rank #40,716, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɔ.sil\.
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 53078, this pair ranks #143,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of débiles vs dociles
Shared letters: deils. Private to "débiles": bé. Private to "dociles": co.
"débiles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "dociles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dociles ← dcoiles · ddociles · docciles · dociels · dociless · docilles · docilse · doclies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "débiles" for "dociles" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "débiles" or "dociles" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "débiles" and "dociles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "débiles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dociles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débiles" and "dociles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dociles vs domiciles". 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 #143,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.