Which to use
“dir” is a pronoun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,530
- “dir” frequency rank
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- 52956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dir | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Toi : deuxième personne du singulier au datif. | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. |
Where the eye mixes dir and dour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dir and dour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dir is \diːɐ̯\ while dour is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dir is recorded at frequency rank #8,530, classified as apron, pronounced \diːɐ̯\. dour is at rank #44,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\.
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 52956, this pair ranks #144,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dir vs dour
Shared letters: dr. Private to "dir": i. Private to "dour": ou.
"dir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dour ← ddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dir" for "dour" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dir" or "dour" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dir" and "dour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dour". 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 #144,110 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.