diguesvsdinguesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,277
“digues” frequency rank
#23,512
“dingues” frequency rank
48789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature digues dingues
Definition Pluriel de digue. Pluriel de dingue

Where the eye mixes digues and dingues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
digues
7 ch
dingues

Look-alike desk: digues vs dingues

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: digues is \diɡ\ while dingues is \dɛ̃ɡ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

digues is recorded at frequency rank #25,277, classified as anoun, pronounced \diɡ\. 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 48789, this pair ranks #176,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of digues vs dingues

Shared letters: degisu. Private to "digues": -. Private to "dingues": n.

"digues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "dingues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diguesddigues · dgiues · digeus · diggues · diguess · diguse · diuges · idgues
  • dinguesddingues · dignues · dingeus · dinggues · dinguess · dinguse · dinngues · dinuges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "digues" for "dingues" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "digues" is a noun and "dingues" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "digues" or "dingues"?
"dingues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,512 in our French list, against #25,277 for "digues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "digues" 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 #176,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "digues" and "dingues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digues 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 #176,034 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