Which to use
“donnaient” and “doutaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,453
- “donnaient” frequency rank
- #46,117
- “doutaient” frequency rank
- 60570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donnaient | doutaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de donner. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de douter. |
Where the eye mixes donnaient and doutaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. donnaient (CVCCVVVCC) and doutaient (CVVCVVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses donnaient with doutaient
A purely visual mix-up. donnaient (\dɔ.nɛ\) and doutaient (\du.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donnaient is recorded at frequency rank #14,453, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔ.nɛ\. doutaient is at rank #46,117, tagged as averb, pronounced \du.tɛ\.
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 60570, this pair ranks #96,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of donnaient vs doutaient
Shared letters: adeinot. Private to "donnaient": -. Private to "doutaient": u.
"donnaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "doutaient" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "donnaient" and "doutaient" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "donnaient" vs "doutaient" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "donnaient" and "doutaient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "donnaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doutaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donnaient" and "doutaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doutaient vs doutant". 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 #96,933 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.