discoursvsdissousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: discours is a noun, dissous is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“discours” is a noun and “dissous” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#939
“discours” frequency rank
#15,127
“dissous” frequency rank
16066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature discours dissous
Definition Actualisation de la langue ; suite de mots qu’on emploie concrètement pour exprimer sa pensée. Qui a été solubilisé, dispersé dans un liquide appelé « solvant ».

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set discours and dissous apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
discours
7 ch
dissous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: discours is \dis.kuʁ\ while dissous is \di.su\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

discours is recorded at frequency rank #939, classified as anoun, pronounced \dis.kuʁ\. dissous is at rank #15,127, tagged as anadj, pronounced \di.su\.

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 16066, this pair ranks #389,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of discours vs dissous

Shared letters: diosu. Private to "discours": cr. Private to "dissous": -.

"discours" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "dissous" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • discoursddiscours · dicsours · disccours · discorus · discourrs · discourss · discousr · discuors
  • dissousddissous · disosus · disous · dissosu · dissouss · dissuos · dsisous · idssous

Frequency comparison

discours#939
dissous#15,127

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "discours" and "dissous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "discours" is a noun and "dissous" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "discours" or "dissous"?
"discours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #939 in our French list, against #15,127 for "dissous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering discours vs dissous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “discours”; for an adjective, it's “dissous”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “discours” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list