dièsevsdigneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dièse is a noun, digne is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dièse” is a noun and “digne” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,643
“dièse” frequency rank
#3,134
“digne” frequency rank
36777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dièse digne
Definition Symbole graphique, formé de deux doubles barres croisées, (♯) appartenant à la famille des altérations et dont la fonction est d’indiquer sur la partition, que la hauteur naturelle de la note associée à ce dièse, ou à la clef, sur la ligne où se place la note, doit être élevée d’un demi-ton chromatique. Qui mérite quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dièse and digne apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
dièse
5 ch
digne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dièse is \djɛz\ while digne is \diɲ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dièse is recorded at frequency rank #33,643, classified as anoun, pronounced \djɛz\. digne is at rank #3,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced \diɲ\.

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 36777, this pair ranks #267,202 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dièse vs digne

Shared letters: dei. Private to "dièse": . Private to "digne": gn.

"dièse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "digne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • digneddigne · dgine · digen · diggne · dignne · dinge · idgne

Frequency comparison

dièse#33,643
digne#3,134

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dièse" and "digne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dièse" is a noun and "digne" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dièse" or "digne"?
"digne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,134 in our French list, against #33,643 for "dièse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering dièse vs digne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dièse”; for an adjective, it's “digne”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dièse” 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