déboutévsdouteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,395
“débouté” frequency rank
#489
“doute” frequency rank
43884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débouté doute
Definition Rejet d’une demande faite en justice. Incertitude sur l’existence ou la vérité d’une chose, sur l'exactitude ou la fausseté d’une idée, d’une affirmation.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set débouté and doute apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
débouté
5 ch
doute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. débouté (\de.bu.te\) and doute (\dut\) 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 43884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débouté is recorded at frequency rank #43,395, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.bu.te\. doute is at rank #489, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dut\.

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 43884, this pair ranks #214,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débouté vs doute

Shared letters: dotu. Private to "débouté": . Private to "doute": e.

"débouté" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "doute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douteddoute · dotue · douet · doutte · duote · odute

Frequency comparison

débouté#43,395
doute#489

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débouté" and "doute" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.bu.te\ versus \dut\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "débouté" or "doute"?
"doute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #489 in our French list, against #43,395 for "débouté". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering débouté vs doute

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “débouté” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list