dîmevsdormeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,076
“dîme” frequency rank
#30,132
“dorme” frequency rank
64208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dîme dorme
Definition Portion des grains, des vins, des fruits, etc., qui se payait à l’église, ou au seigneur du lieu, et qui en était ordinairement le dixième. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de dormir.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
dîme
5 ch
dorme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dîme is \dim\ while dorme is \dɔʁm\. 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 64208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dîme is recorded at frequency rank #34,076, classified as anoun, pronounced \dim\. dorme is at rank #30,132, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁm\.

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 64208, this pair ranks #78,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dîme vs dorme

Shared letters: dem. Private to "dîme": î. Private to "dorme": or.

"dîme" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dorme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dormeddorme · domre · dorem · dormme · dorrme · drome · odrme

Frequency comparison

dîme#34,076
dorme#30,132

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dîme" and "dorme" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dîme" is a noun and "dorme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dîme" or "dorme"?
"dorme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,132 in our French list, against #34,076 for "dîme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dîme vs dorme

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dîme”; for a verb, it's “dorme”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dîme” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list