Which to use
“does” and “dou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,566
- “does” frequency rank
- #22,238
- “dou” frequency rank
- 52804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | does | dou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fait d’avoir un rapport sexuel ; coït. | Forme mutée de tou par adoucissement (t → d). |
Where the eye mixes does and dou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses does with dou
A purely visual mix-up. does (\dœz\) 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 52804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
does is recorded at frequency rank #30,566, classified as anoun, pronounced \dœz\. 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 52804, this pair ranks #145,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of does vs dou
Shared letters: do. Private to "does": es. Private to "dou": u.
"does" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- does ← ddoes · deos · odes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "does" and "dou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "does" or "dou"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "does" 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 #145,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "does" and "dou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "does vs domi". 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 #145,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.