Which to use
“dong” and “dos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,930
- “dong” frequency rank
- #961
- “dos” frequency rank
- 18891
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dong | dos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue du peuple Dong, en Chine. | Partie du corps humain située au-dessus du postérieur, depuis le cou jusqu’aux reins. |
Where the eye mixes dong and dos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dong with dos
A purely visual mix-up. dong (\dɔ̃ɡ\) and dos (\do\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dong is recorded at frequency rank #17,930, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔ̃ɡ\. dos is at rank #961, tagged as anoun, pronounced \do\.
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 18891, this pair ranks #376,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dong vs dos
Shared letters: do. Private to "dong": gn. Private to "dos": s.
"dong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dong ← ddong · dnog · dogn · dongg · donng · odng
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dong" for "dos" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dong" vs "dos" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dong" and "dos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dong". 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 #376,079 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.