dermevsdogmeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,692
“derme” frequency rank
#14,658
“dogme” frequency rank
61350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature derme dogme
Definition Tissu qui forme la partie la plus épaisse de la peau entre l’épiderme et l'hypoderme. Vérité indiscutable définie par l’autorité compétente ; objet de foi.

Where the eye mixes derme and dogme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. derme and dogme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
derme
5 ch
dogme

Why the eye confuses derme with dogme

A purely visual mix-up. derme (\dɛʁm\) and dogme (\dɔɡm\) 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 61350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

derme is recorded at frequency rank #46,692, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛʁm\. dogme is at rank #14,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔɡm\.

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 61350, this pair ranks #92,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of derme vs dogme

Shared letters: dem. Private to "derme": r. Private to "dogme": go.

"derme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dogme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derme ← dderme · demre · derem · dermme · derrme · dreme · edrme
  • dogme ← ddogme · dgome · dogem · doggme · dogmme · domge · odgme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "derme" for "dogme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dɛʁm\ versus \dɔɡm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "derme" or "dogme"?
"dogme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,658 in our French list, against #46,692 for "derme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "derme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dogme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "derme" and "dogme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs derme". 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 #92,744 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