dignesvsdinguesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,686
“dignes” frequency rank
#23,512
“dingues” frequency rank
34198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dignes dingues
Definition Pluriel de digne. Pluriel de dingue

Where the eye mixes dignes and dingues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
dignes
7 ch
dingues

Why the eye confuses dignes with dingues

A purely visual mix-up. dignes (\diɲ\) and dingues (\dɛ̃ɡ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dignes is recorded at frequency rank #10,686, classified as anadj, pronounced \diɲ\. dingues is at rank #23,512, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɛ̃ɡ\.

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 34198, this pair ranks #285,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dignes vs dingues

Shared letters: degins. Private to "dignes": -. Private to "dingues": u.

"dignes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dingues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dignesddignes · dgines · digens · diggnes · digness · dignnes · dignse · dinges
  • dinguesddingues · dignues · dingeus · dinggues · dinguess · dinguse · dinngues · dinuges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dignes" for "dingues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\diɲ\ versus \dɛ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dignes" or "dingues"?
"dignes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,686 in our French list, against #23,512 for "dingues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dignes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dingues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dignes" and "dingues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dingues vs dragues". 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 #285,487 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list