Which to use
“donnait” and “dormait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,238
- “donnait” frequency rank
- #15,855
- “dormait” frequency rank
- 21093
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donnait | dormait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de donner. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dormir. |
Where the eye mixes donnait and dormait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. donnait and dormait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses donnait with dormait
A purely visual mix-up. donnait (\dɔ.nɛ\) and dormait (\dɔʁ.mɛ\) 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 21093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donnait is recorded at frequency rank #5,238, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔ.nɛ\. dormait is at rank #15,855, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ.mɛ\.
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 21093, this pair ranks #364,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of donnait vs dormait
Shared letters: adiot. Private to "donnait": n. Private to "dormait": mr.
"donnait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "dormait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "donnait" for "dormait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "donnait" or "dormait"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "donnait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dormait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donnait" and "dormait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donnait 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 #364,899 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.