Which to use
“Dole” is a name and “donc” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,644
- “Dole” frequency rank
- #113
- “donc” frequency rank
- 33757
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dole | donc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commune située dans le département du Jura, en France. | Marque la conclusion d’un raisonnement. |
Where the eye mixes Dole and donc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Dole with donc
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dole is \dɔl\ while donc is \dɔ̃k\. 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 (name vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Dole is recorded at frequency rank #33,644, classified as aname, pronounced \dɔl\. donc is at rank #113, tagged as anadv, pronounced \dɔ̃k\.
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 33757, this pair ranks #288,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Dole vs donc
Shared letters: do. Private to "Dole": el. Private to "donc": cn.
"Dole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "donc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Dole" for "donc" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "Dole" or "donc" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #288,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dole" and "donc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dole 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 #288,467 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.