Which to use
“débouchés” and “douches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,680
- “débouchés” frequency rank
- #14,015
- “douches” frequency rank
- 31695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débouchés | douches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de débouché. | Pluriel de douche. |
Where the eye mixes débouchés and douches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. débouchés runs 9 letters (CVCVVCCVC) against douches's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses débouchés with douches
A purely visual mix-up. débouchés (\de.bu.ʃe\) and douches (\duʃ\) 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 31695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débouchés is recorded at frequency rank #17,680, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.bu.ʃe\. douches is at rank #14,015, tagged as anoun, pronounced \duʃ\.
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 31695, this pair ranks #302,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of débouchés vs douches
Shared letters: cdhosu. Private to "débouchés": bé. Private to "douches": e.
"débouchés" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "douches" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- douches ← ddouches · docuhes · doucches · doucehs · douchess · douchhes · douchse · douhces
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "débouchés" for "douches" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "débouchés" or "douches" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "débouchés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "douches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débouchés" and "douches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "douches vs douées". 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 #302,168 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.