Which to use
“dolmen” and “dome” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,113
- “dolmen” frequency rank
- #33,217
- “dome” frequency rank
- 79330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dolmen | dome |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sépulture mégalithique préhistorique constituée d’une ou plusieurs grosses dalles horizontales posées sur des pierres verticales. | Dôme. |
Where the eye mixes dolmen and dome
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dolmen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against dome's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dolmen with dome
A purely visual mix-up. dolmen (\dɔl.mɛn\) and dome (\dəʊm\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dolmen is recorded at frequency rank #46,113, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔl.mɛn\. dome is at rank #33,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dəʊm\.
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 79330, this pair ranks #23,580 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dolmen vs dome
Shared letters: demo. Private to "dolmen": ln. Private to "dome": -.
"dolmen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "dome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dolmen" and "dome" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dolmen" or "dome"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dolmen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dome" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,580 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dolmen" and "dome" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dolmen vs dômes". 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 #23,580 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.