Which to use
“donnais” and “doutais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,598
- “donnais” frequency rank
- #18,463
- “doutais” frequency rank
- 40061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donnais | doutais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de donner. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de douter. |
Where the eye mixes donnais and doutais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. donnais (CVCCVVC) and doutais (CVVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses donnais with doutais
A purely visual mix-up. donnais (\dɔ.nɛ\) and doutais (\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 40061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donnais is recorded at frequency rank #21,598, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔ.nɛ\. doutais is at rank #18,463, 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 40061, this pair ranks #243,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of donnais vs doutais
Shared letters: adios. Private to "donnais": n. Private to "doutais": tu.
"donnais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "doutais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "donnais" and "doutais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "donnais" vs "doutais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "donnais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doutais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donnais" and "doutais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donnais vs Donnie". 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 #243,350 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.