Which to use
“des” is an article and “do” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10
- “des” frequency rank
- #2,819
- “do” frequency rank
- 2829
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | des | do |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une. | Première note de la gamme. |
Where the eye mixes des and do
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: des is \de\ while do is \do\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
des is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as anarticle, pronounced \de\. do is at rank #2,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced \do\.
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 2829, this pair ranks #435,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of des vs do
Shared letters: d. Private to "des": es. Private to "do": o.
"des" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "do" · 2 letters · shape CV