divevsdixConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,223
“dive” frequency rank
#581
“dix” frequency rank
41804
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dive dix
Definition Qui est divine. Neuf plus un, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 10.

Where the eye mixes dive and dix

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

4 ch
dive
3 ch
dix

Why the eye confuses dive with dix

A purely visual mix-up. dive (\div\) and dix (\dis\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dive is recorded at frequency rank #41,223, classified as anadj, pronounced \div\. dix is at rank #581, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dis\.

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 41804, this pair ranks #230,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dive vs dix

Shared letters: di. Private to "dive": ev. Private to "dix": x.

"dive" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dix" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diveddive · diev · divve · dvie · idve

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dive" for "dix" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\div\ versus \dis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dive" vs "dix" - which ranks higher?
"dix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #581 in our French list, against #41,223 for "dive". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,385 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dive" and "dix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diez vs dive". 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 #230,385 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