Which to use
“dons” is a noun and “dors” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,067
- “dons” frequency rank
- #5,748
- “dors” frequency rank
- 9815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dons | dors |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de don. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de dormir. |
Where the eye mixes dons and dors
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dons with dors
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dons is \dɔ̃\ while dors is \dɔʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “dons” becomes r in “dors”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dons is recorded at frequency rank #4,067, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɔ̃\. dors is at rank #5,748, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ\.
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 9815, this pair ranks #415,302 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dons vs dors
Shared letters: dos. Private to "dons": n. Private to "dors": r.
"dons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dors" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dons" and "dors" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dons" or "dors" show up more?
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 "dons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dors" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,302 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dons" and "dors" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dors". 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 #415,302 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.