dindevsdindonTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#16,340
“dinde” frequency rank
#34,981
“dindon” frequency rank
51321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dinde dindon
Definition Femelle du dindon. Qui est d’une stupidité prétentieuse.

Where the eye mixes dinde and dindon

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

5 ch
dinde
6 ch
dindon

Why the eye confuses dinde with dindon

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dinde is \dɛ̃d\ while dindon is \dɛ̃.dɔ̃\. 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 51321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dinde is recorded at frequency rank #16,340, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛ̃d\. dindon is at rank #34,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɛ̃.dɔ̃\.

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 51321, this pair ranks #155,920 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dinde vs dindon

Shared letters: din. Private to "dinde": e. Private to "dindon": o.

"dinde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dindon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dindeddinde · didne · dindde · dined · dinnde · dnide · idnde
  • dindonddindon · didnon · dinddon · dindno · dindonn · dinndon · dinodn · dnidon

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dinde" and "dindon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dinde" is a noun and "dindon" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "dinde" or "dindon" show up more?
"dinde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,340 in our French list, against #34,981 for "dindon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dinde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dindon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,920 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dinde" and "dindon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dindon vs dindons". 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 #155,920 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