Which to use
“dona” is a noun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,903
- “dona” frequency rank
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- 80329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dona | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sainte. | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. |
Letter map: dona vs dour
Shared letters muted; letters that set dona and dour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. dona (CVCV) and dour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - dona and dour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dona is anoun and douranadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dona is recorded at frequency rank #35,903, classified as anoun. dour is at rank #44,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\.
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 80329, this pair ranks #21,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dona vs dour
Shared letters: do. Private to "dona": an. Private to "dour": ru.
"dona" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dona" for "dour" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dona" or "dour" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dona" and "dour".
- Full dictionary entry for "dona" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dona" and "dour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dour". 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 #21,217 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.