Which to use
“dire” and “doive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #101
- “dire” frequency rank
- #14,452
- “doive” frequency rank
- 14553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dire | doive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exprimer par la parole. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de devoir. |
Where the eye mixes dire and doive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dire runs 4 letters (CVCV) against doive's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dire vs doive
A purely visual mix-up. dire (\diʁ\) and doive (\dwav\) 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 14553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dire is recorded at frequency rank #101, classified as averb, pronounced \diʁ\. doive is at rank #14,452, tagged as averb, pronounced \dwav\.
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 14553, this pair ranks #396,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dire vs doive
Shared letters: dei. Private to "dire": r. Private to "doive": ov.
"dire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "doive" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dire" for "doive" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dire" vs "doive" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dire" and "doive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dice vs doive". 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 #396,178 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.