deusvsdourWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,168
“deus” frequency rank
#44,426
“dour” frequency rank
67594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deus dour
Definition Deux. Austère, dur, inhospitalier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set deus and dour apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
deus
4 ch
dour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. deus (\dœs\) and dour (\ˈdʊə(ɹ)\) 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 67594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deus is recorded at frequency rank #23,168, classified as anadj, pronounced \dœs\. 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 67594, this pair ranks #62,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deus vs dour

Shared letters: du. Private to "deus": es. Private to "dour": or.

"deus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deusddeus · desu · deuss · edus
  • dourddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur

Frequency comparison

deus#23,168
dour#44,426

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deus" and "dour" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dœs\ versus \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deus" or "dour"?
"deus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,168 in our French list, against #44,426 for "dour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering deus vs dour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “deus” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list