Which to use
“donc” is an adverb and “down” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #113
- “donc” frequency rank
- #8,531
- “down” frequency rank
- 8644
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donc | down |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marque la conclusion d’un raisonnement. | Dépressif, déprimé. |
Where the eye mixes donc and down
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: donc vs down
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: donc is \dɔ̃k\ while down is \dɔn\. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donc is recorded at frequency rank #113, classified as anadv, pronounced \dɔ̃k\. down is at rank #8,531, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɔn\.
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 8644, this pair ranks #419,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of donc vs down
Shared letters: dno. Private to "donc": c. Private to "down": w.
"donc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "down" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "donc" for "down" ever safe?
Frequency check: "donc" vs "down" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "donc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "down" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donc" and "down" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs down". 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 #419,329 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.