Which to use
“dengue” and “drogue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,413
- “dengue” frequency rank
- #2,772
- “drogue” frequency rank
- 47185
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dengue | drogue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Maladie virale endémique dans les pays tropicaux causée par les virus de type flavivirus. | Substance psychotrope provoquant le plus souvent une dépendance et utilisée pour modifier son état mental, en particulier substance illégale dont l’usage est réprouvé. |
Where the eye mixes dengue and drogue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dengue (CVCCVV) and drogue (CCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dengue with drogue
A purely visual mix-up. dengue (\dɛ̃ɡ\) and drogue (\dʁɔɡ\) 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 47185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dengue is recorded at frequency rank #44,413, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛ̃ɡ\. drogue is at rank #2,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʁɔɡ\.
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 47185, this pair ranks #188,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dengue vs drogue
Shared letters: degu. Private to "dengue": n. Private to "drogue": or.
"dengue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "drogue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dengue" for "drogue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dengue" or "drogue"?
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 "dengue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drogue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dengue" and "drogue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dengue vs dénués". 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 #188,893 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.