Which to use
“dèche” and “douche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,607
- “dèche” frequency rank
- #2,920
- “douche” frequency rank
- 52527
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dèche | douche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Misère, gêne financière. | Eau naturelle ou minérale qu’on projette sur tout le corps ou sur une partie du corps pour produire une action hygiénique ou thérapeutique. |
Where the eye mixes dèche and douche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dèche with douche
A purely visual mix-up. dèche (\dɛʃ\) and douche (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dèche is recorded at frequency rank #49,607, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛʃ\. douche is at rank #2,920, 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 52527, this pair ranks #147,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dèche vs douche
Shared letters: cdeh. Private to "dèche": è. Private to "douche": ou.
"dèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "douche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- douche ← ddouche · docuhe · doucche · douceh · douchhe · douhce · duoche · oduche
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dèche" for "douche" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dèche" or "douche" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dèche" and "douche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dèche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "douche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dèche" and "douche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". 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 #147,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.