Which to use
“done” is a noun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,986
- “done” frequency rank
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- 65412
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | done | dour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Demoiselle, jeune dame, parfois opposé à dame. | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. |
Letter map: done vs dour
Shared letters muted; letters that set done and dour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. done (CVCV) and dour (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: done vs dour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: done 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 65412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
done is recorded at frequency rank #20,986, 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 65412, this pair ranks #72,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of done vs dour
Shared letters: do. Private to "done": en. Private to "dour": ru.
"done" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "done" for "dour" ever safe?
Frequency check: "done" vs "dour" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "done" and "dour". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "done" 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 #72,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "done" 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 #72,460 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.