Which to use
“dites” is a verb and “doués” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,409
- “dites” frequency rank
- #14,248
- “doués” frequency rank
- 15657
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dites | doués |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe dire. | Masculin pluriel de doué. |
Where the eye mixes dites and doués
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dites with doués
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dites is \dit\ while doués is \dwe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dites is recorded at frequency rank #1,409, classified as averb, pronounced \dit\. doués is at rank #14,248, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dwe\.
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 15657, this pair ranks #391,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dites vs doués
Shared letters: ds. Private to "dites": eit. Private to "doués": oué.
"dites" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "doués" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dites ← ddites · diets · ditess · ditse · dittes · dties · idtes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dites" and "doués" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dites" or "doués"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dites" and "doués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déçues vs doués". 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 #391,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.