Which to use
“dires” and “durée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,949
- “dires” frequency rank
- #1,025
- “durée” frequency rank
- 12974
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dires | durée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de dire. | Espace de temps pendant lequel une chose dure. |
Where the eye mixes dires and durée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dires with durée
A purely visual mix-up. dires (\diʁ\) and durée (\dy.ʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dires is recorded at frequency rank #11,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \diʁ\. durée is at rank #1,025, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʁe\.
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 12974, this pair ranks #402,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dires vs durée
Shared letters: der. Private to "dires": is. Private to "durée": ué.
"dires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "durée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dires ← ddires · diers · diress · dirres · dirse · dries · idres
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dires" for "durée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dires" or "durée"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "durée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dires" and "durée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diez vs dires". 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 #402,945 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.