Which to use
“dong” and “dou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,930
- “dong” frequency rank
- #22,238
- “dou” frequency rank
- 40168
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dong | dou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Langue du peuple Dong, en Chine. | Forme mutée de tou par adoucissement (t → d). |
Where the eye mixes dong and dou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dong with dou
A purely visual mix-up. dong (\dɔ̃ɡ\) and dou (\ˈdu:\) 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 40168, 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\. 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 40168, this pair ranks #242,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dong vs dou
Shared letters: do. Private to "dong": gn. Private to "dou": u.
"dong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dong ← ddong · dnog · dogn · dongg · donng · odng
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dong" for "dou" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dong" or "dou" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dong" and "dou" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dong" 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 #242,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dong" 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 #242,515 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.