disonsvsdonsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: disons is a verb, dons is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“disons” is a verb and “dons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,068
“disons” frequency rank
#4,067
“dons” frequency rank
7135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature disons dons
Definition Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de dire. Pluriel de don.

Where the eye mixes disons and dons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
disons
4 ch
dons

Visual trap between disons and dons

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: disons is \di.zɔ̃\ while dons is \dɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

disons is recorded at frequency rank #3,068, classified as averb, pronounced \di.zɔ̃\. dons is at rank #4,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔ̃\.

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 7135, this pair ranks #424,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of disons vs dons

Shared letters: dnos. Private to "disons": i. Private to "dons": -.

"disons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "dons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • disonsddisons · diosns · disnos · disonns · disonss · disosn · dissons · dsions
  • donsddons · dnos · donns · donss · dosn · odns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "disons" and "dons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "disons" is a verb and "dons" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "disons" or "dons"?
"disons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,068 in our French list, against #4,067 for "dons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "disons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,117 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "disons" and "dons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dons". 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 #424,117 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