diètevsditesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: diète is a noun, dites is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“diète” is a noun and “dites” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,356
“diète” frequency rank
#1,409
“dites” frequency rank
16765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diète dites
Definition Manière d’employer régulièrement tout ce qui est nécessaire pour conserver la vie, soit dans la santé soit dans la maladie. Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe dire.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set diète and dites apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
diète
5 ch
dites

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: diète is \djɛt\ while dites is \dit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

diète is recorded at frequency rank #15,356, classified as anoun, pronounced \djɛt\. dites is at rank #1,409, tagged as averb, pronounced \dit\.

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 16765, this pair ranks #386,362 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of diète vs dites

Shared letters: deit. Private to "diète": è. Private to "dites": s.

"diète" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "dites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ditesddites · diets · ditess · ditse · dittes · dties · idtes

Frequency comparison

diète#15,356
dites#1,409

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "diète" and "dites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "diète" is a noun and "dites" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "diète" or "dites"?
"dites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,409 in our French list, against #15,356 for "diète". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering diète vs dites

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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