dingovsdingueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,977
“dingo” frequency rank
#3,452
“dingue” frequency rank
34429
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dingo dingue
Definition Fou. Fou, fada.

Where the eye mixes dingo and dingue

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

5 ch
dingo
6 ch
dingue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dingo (\dɛ̃.ɡo\) and dingue (\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 34429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dingo is recorded at frequency rank #30,977, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɛ̃.ɡo\. dingue is at rank #3,452, 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 34429, this pair ranks #283,900 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dingo vs dingue

Shared letters: dgin. Private to "dingo": o. Private to "dingue": eu.

"dingo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dingue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dingoddingo · digno · dinggo · dinngo · dinog · dnigo · idngo
  • dingueddingue · dignue · dingeu · dinggue · dinngue · dinuge · dnigue · idngue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dingo" and "dingue" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɛ̃.ɡo\ versus \dɛ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dingo" or "dingue"?
"dingue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,452 in our French list, against #30,977 for "dingo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "dingo" and "dingue". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dingo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dingue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,900 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dingo" and "dingue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dinamo vs dingo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list