déçues vs doués, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#46,735
“déçues” frequency rank: #14,248
“doués” frequency rank: 60983
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	déçues	doués
Definition	Féminin pluriel de déçu.	Masculin pluriel de doué.

Where the eye mixes déçues and doués

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. déçues runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against doués's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch

déçues

5 ch

doués

Why the eye confuses déçues with doués

A purely visual mix-up. déçues (\de.sy\) and doués (\dwe\) 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 60983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déçues is recorded at frequency rank #46,735, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.sy\. doués is at rank #14,248, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dwe\.

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 60983, this pair ranks #94,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déçues vs doués

Shared letters: dsué. Private to "déçues": eç. Private to "doués": o.

"déçues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "doués" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déçues" and "doués" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\de.sy\ versus \dwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "déçues" or "doués"?

"doués" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,248 in our French list, against #46,735 for "déçues". 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 "déçues" and "doués" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "déçues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "doués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #94,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"déçues" and "doués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #94,723 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.