dévouéevsdouéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,296
“dévouée” frequency rank
#15,357
“douée” frequency rank
40653
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dévouée douée
Definition Féminin singulier de dévoué. Féminin singulier de doué.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dévouée and douée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
dévouée
5 ch
douée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dévouée (\de.vwe\) and douée (\dwe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dévouée is recorded at frequency rank #25,296, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.vwe\. douée is at rank #15,357, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dwe\.

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 40653, this pair ranks #238,959 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dévouée vs douée

Shared letters: deoué. Private to "dévouée": v. Private to "douée": -.

"dévouée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVV  ·  "douée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV

Frequency comparison

dévouée#25,296
douée#15,357

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dévouée" and "douée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.vwe\ versus \dwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dévouée" or "douée"?
"douée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,357 in our French list, against #25,296 for "dévouée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dévouée vs douée

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 “dévouée” 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