Which to use
“donc” is an adverb and “dou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #113
- “donc” frequency rank
- #22,238
- “dou” frequency rank
- 22351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donc | dou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marque la conclusion d’un raisonnement. | Forme mutée de tou par adoucissement (t → d). |
Where the eye mixes donc and dou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between donc and dou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: donc is \dɔ̃k\ while dou is \ˈdu:\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donc is recorded at frequency rank #113, classified as anadv, pronounced \dɔ̃k\. dou is at rank #22,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdu:\.
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 22351, this pair ranks #358,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of donc vs dou
Shared letters: do. Private to "donc": cn. Private to "dou": u.
"donc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- donc ← ddonc · dnoc · docn · doncc · donnc · odnc
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "donc" for "dou" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "donc" or "dou" 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 "donc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #358,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donc" and "dou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dou". 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 #358,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.