dirasvsditesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,948
“diras” frequency rank
#1,409
“dites” frequency rank
13357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diras dites
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du futur de l’indicatif du verbe dire. Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe dire.

Where the eye mixes diras and dites

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
diras
5 ch
dites

Why the eye confuses diras with dites

A purely visual mix-up. diras (\di.ʁa\) and dites (\dit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

diras is recorded at frequency rank #11,948, classified as averb, pronounced \di.ʁa\. 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 13357, this pair ranks #401,341 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of diras vs dites

Shared letters: dis. Private to "diras": ar. Private to "dites": et.

"diras" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dirasddiras · diars · dirass · dirras · dirsa · drias · idras
  • ditesddites · diets · ditess · ditse · dittes · dties · idtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "diras" for "dites" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\di.ʁa\ versus \dit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "diras" vs "dites" - which ranks higher?
"dites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,409 in our French list, against #11,948 for "diras". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "diras" 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 #401,341 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "diras" and "dites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diras vs dray". 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 #401,341 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