dogvsdrugWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,950
“dog” frequency rank
#29,732
“drug” frequency rank
41682
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dog drug
Definition Chien (animal), pitou, animal de l'espèce Canis familiaris ou Canis lupus familiaris qui a été domestiqué il y a plusieurs milliers d'années et d’apparence variable du fait de la sélection humaine. Médicament, drogue.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dog and drug apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
dog
4 ch
drug

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dog (\ˈdɔɡ\) and drug (\dɹʌɡ\) 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 41682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dog is recorded at frequency rank #11,950, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈdɔɡ\. drug is at rank #29,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɹʌɡ\.

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 41682, this pair ranks #231,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dog vs drug

Shared letters: dg. Private to "dog": o. Private to "drug": ru.

"dog" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • drugddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequency comparison

dog#11,950
drug#29,732

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dog" and "drug" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈdɔɡ\ versus \dɹʌɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dog" or "drug"?
"dog" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,950 in our French list, against #29,732 for "drug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dog vs drug

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dog” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list