dentsvsdonutsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,313
“dents” frequency rank
#39,752
“donuts” frequency rank
42065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dents donuts
Definition Pluriel de dent. Pluriel de donut.

Where the eye mixes dents and donuts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dents runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against donuts's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
dents
6 ch
donuts

Why the eye confuses dents with donuts

A purely visual mix-up. dents (\dɑ̃\) and donuts (\dɔ.nœt\) 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 42065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dents is recorded at frequency rank #2,313, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃\. donuts is at rank #39,752, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔ.nœt\.

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 42065, this pair ranks #228,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dents vs donuts

Shared letters: dnst. Private to "dents": e. Private to "donuts": ou.

"dents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "donuts" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dents ← ddents · dennts · denst · dentss · dentts · detns · dnets · ednts
  • donuts ← ddonuts · dnouts · donnuts · dontus · donust · donutss · donutts · dounts

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dents" and "donuts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɑ̃\ versus \dɔ.nœt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dents" or "donuts"?
"dents" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,313 in our French list, against #39,752 for "donuts". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dents" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "donuts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dents" and "donuts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domus vs donuts". 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 #228,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list