dollvsdollyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,229
“doll” frequency rank
#30,567
“dolly” frequency rank
71796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doll dolly
Definition Meuf trans fem. Support de caméra sur roues ou rails, souvent muni d’une petite grue d’élévation, permettant de réaliser un travelling sans à-coups.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set doll and dolly apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
doll
5 ch
dolly

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. doll (\dɔl\) and dolly (\dɔ.li\) 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 extra letter(s) - “doll” sits inside “dolly”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doll is recorded at frequency rank #41,229, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔl\. dolly is at rank #30,567, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɔ.li\.

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 71796, this pair ranks #46,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of doll vs dolly

Shared letters: dlo. Private to "doll": -. Private to "dolly": y.

"doll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dolly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dollddoll · dlol · odll
  • dollyddolly · dloly · dollyy · doly · dolyl · odlly

Frequency comparison

doll#41,229
dolly#30,567

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doll" and "dolly" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɔl\ versus \dɔ.li\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "doll" or "dolly"?
"dolly" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,567 in our French list, against #41,229 for "doll". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering doll vs dolly

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 “doll” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list