disevsdusConfusable pair

Quick tell: dise is a verb, dus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dise” is a verb and “dus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,530
“dise” frequency rank
#9,817
“dus” frequency rank
13347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dise dus
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de dire. Masculin pluriel de dû.

Where the eye mixes dise and dus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dise
3 ch
dus

Visual trap between dise and dus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dise is \diz\ while dus is \dy\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dise is recorded at frequency rank #3,530, classified as averb, pronounced \diz\. dus is at rank #9,817, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.

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 13347, this pair ranks #401,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dise vs dus

Shared letters: ds. Private to "dise": ei. Private to "dus": u.

"dise" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diseddise · disse · dsie · idse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dise" and "dus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dise" is a verb and "dus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dise" or "dus"?
"dise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,530 in our French list, against #9,817 for "dus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dise" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dus". 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 #401,385 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