docsvsdouConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,314
“docs” frequency rank
#22,238
“dou” frequency rank
51552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature docs dou
Definition Pluriel de doc. Forme mutée de tou par adoucissement (t → d).

Where the eye mixes docs and dou

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

4 ch
docs
3 ch
dou

Visual trap between docs and dou

A purely visual mix-up. docs (\dɔk\) and dou (\ˈdu:\) 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 51552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

docs is recorded at frequency rank #29,314, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔk\. dou is at rank #22,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdu:\.

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 51552, this pair ranks #154,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of docs vs dou

Shared letters: do. Private to "docs": cs. Private to "dou": u.

"docs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docsdcos · ddocs · doccs · docss · dosc · odcs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "docs" and "dou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dɔk\ versus \ˈdu:\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "docs" or "dou" show up more?
"dou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,238 in our French list, against #29,314 for "docs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "docs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "docs" and "dou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs docs". 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 #154,157 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