Which to use
“deu” is a noun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,794
- “deu” frequency rank
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- 81220
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deu | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dieu. | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. |
Letter map: deu vs dour
Shared letters muted; letters that set deu and dour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. deu runs 3 letters (CVV) against dour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: deu vs dour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deu is anoun and douranadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81220, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deu is recorded at frequency rank #36,794, classified as anoun. dour is at rank #44,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\.
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 81220, this pair ranks #19,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of deu vs dour
Shared letters: du. Private to "deu": e. Private to "dour": or.
"deu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dour ← ddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deu" for "dour" ever safe?
Which is more common, "deu" or "dour"?
What to do next
Pair "deu" vs "dour" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "deu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deu" and "dour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dour". 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 #19,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.