diguesvsditesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,277
“digues” frequency rank
#1,409
“dites” frequency rank
26686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature digues dites
Definition Pluriel de digue. Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe dire.

Where the eye mixes digues and dites

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
digues
5 ch
dites

Look-alike desk: digues vs dites

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: digues is \diɡ\ while dites is \dit\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26686, 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\. 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 26686, this pair ranks #333,459 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of digues vs dites

Shared letters: deis. Private to "digues": gu. Private to "dites": t.

"digues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "dites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diguesddigues · dgiues · digeus · diggues · diguess · diguse · diuges · idgues
  • ditesddites · diets · ditess · ditse · dittes · dties · idtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "digues" and "dites" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "digues" is a noun and "dites" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "digues" or "dites"?
"dites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,409 in our French list, against #25,277 for "digues". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "dites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #333,459 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "digues" and "dites" 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 #333,459 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