dockervsdonnerTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,741
“docker” frequency rank
#327
“donner” frequency rank
42068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature docker donner
Definition Ouvrier qui, dans un dock, travaille au chargement et au déchargement des navires. Faire un don ; transférer, sans rétribution, la propriété d’une chose que l’on possède ou dont on jouit, à une autre personne.

Where the eye mixes docker and donner

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

6 ch
docker
6 ch
donner

Why the eye confuses docker with donner

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: docker is \dɔ.kɛʁ\ while donner is \dɔ.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

docker is recorded at frequency rank #41,741, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔ.kɛʁ\. donner is at rank #327, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔ.ne\.

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 42068, this pair ranks #228,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of docker vs donner

Shared letters: deor. Private to "docker": ck. Private to "donner": n.

"docker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "donner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dockerdcoker · ddocker · doccker · docekr · dockerr · dockker · dockre · dokcer
  • donnerddonner · dnoner · donenr · doner · donnerr · donnre · odnner

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "docker" and "donner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "docker" is a noun and "donner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "docker" or "donner" show up more?
"donner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #327 in our French list, against #41,741 for "docker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "docker" and "donner" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "docker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "donner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "docker" and "donner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "docker vs donkey". 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 #228,468 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