ditevsditsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dite” and “dits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,873
“dite” frequency rank
#5,747
“dits” frequency rank
8620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dite dits
Definition Féminin singulier de dit. Masculin pluriel de dit.

Where the eye mixes dite and dits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dite
4 ch
dits

Why the eye confuses dite with dits

A purely visual mix-up. dite ([dit]) and dits ([di]) 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 a single letter - e in “dite” becomes s in “dits”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dite is recorded at frequency rank #2,873, classified as anadj, pronounced [dit]. dits is at rank #5,747, tagged as anadj, pronounced [di].

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 8620, this pair ranks #419,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dite vs dits

Shared letters: dit. Private to "dite": e. Private to "dits": s.

"dite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dits" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diteddite · ditte · dtie · idte
  • ditsddits · dist · ditss · ditts · dtis · idts

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dite" and "dits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([dit] versus [di]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "dite" or "dits" show up more?
"dite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,873 in our French list, against #5,747 for "dits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #419,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dite" and "dits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diez vs dits". 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 #419,406 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