donnervsdorerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“donner” and “dorer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#327
“donner” frequency rank
#39,753
“dorer” frequency rank
40080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature donner dorer
Definition Faire un don ; transférer, sans rétribution, la propriété d’une chose que l’on possède ou dont on jouit, à une autre personne. Revêtir un objet d’une mince pellicule d’or.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set donner and dorer apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
donner
5 ch
dorer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. donner (\dɔ.ne\) and dorer (\dɔ.ʁe\) 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 40080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

donner is recorded at frequency rank #327, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔ.ne\. dorer is at rank #39,753, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔ.ʁe\.

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 40080, this pair ranks #243,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of donner vs dorer

Shared letters: deor. Private to "donner": n. Private to "dorer": -.

"donner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dorer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • donnerddonner · dnoner · donenr · doner · donnerr · donnre · odnner
  • dorerddorer · doerr · dorerr · dorre · dorrer · droer

Frequency comparison

donner#327
dorer#39,753

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "donner" and "dorer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɔ.ne\ versus \dɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "donner" or "dorer"?
"donner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #327 in our French list, against #39,753 for "dorer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering donner vs dorer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “donner” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list