Which to use
“doing” is a verb and “dont” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,751
- “doing” frequency rank
- #119
- “dont” frequency rank
- 39870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doing | dont |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe présent du verbe irrégulier do. | De qui ; de quoi ; duquel ; de laquelle ; desquels , desquelles. |
Where the eye mixes doing and dont
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: doing vs dont
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doing is \ˈdu.ɪŋ\ while dont is \dɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doing is recorded at frequency rank #39,751, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈdu.ɪŋ\. dont is at rank #119, tagged as apron, pronounced \dɔ̃\.
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 39870, this pair ranks #244,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doing vs dont
Shared letters: dno. Private to "doing": gi. Private to "dont": t.
"doing" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "dont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "doing" and "dont" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "doing" or "dont" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "doing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dont" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doing" and "dont" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "djinn vs doing". 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 #244,740 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.