Which to use
“dette” and “doute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,469
- “dette” frequency rank
- #489
- “doute” frequency rank
- 2958
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dette | doute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Somme due à un créancier. | Incertitude sur l’existence ou la vérité d’une chose, sur l'exactitude ou la fausseté d’une idée, d’une affirmation. |
Where the eye mixes dette and doute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dette with doute
A purely visual mix-up. dette (\dɛt\) and doute (\dut\) 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 2958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dette is recorded at frequency rank #2,469, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛt\. doute is at rank #489, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dut\.
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 2958, this pair ranks #435,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dette vs doute
Shared letters: det. Private to "dette": -. Private to "doute": ou.
"dette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "doute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dette" and "doute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dette" or "doute"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dette" and "doute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dette" and "doute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs dette". 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 #435,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.