Which to use
“donne” is a noun and “donniez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #326
- “donne” frequency rank
- #49,603
- “donniez” frequency rank
- 49929
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donne | donniez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de donner, de distribuer les cartes, dans un jeu de cartes. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de donner. |
Where the eye mixes donne and donniez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. donne runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against donniez's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses donne with donniez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: donne is \dɔn\ while donniez is \dɔ.nje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donne is recorded at frequency rank #326, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔn\. donniez is at rank #49,603, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔ.nje\.
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 49929, this pair ranks #166,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of donne vs donniez
Shared letters: deno. Private to "donne": -. Private to "donniez": iz.
"donne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "donniez" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "donne" and "donniez" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "donne" vs "donniez" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "donne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donniez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donne" and "donniez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Donnie vs donniez". 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 #166,718 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.