Which to use
“dons” and “drones” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,067
- “dons” frequency rank
- #10,860
- “drones” frequency rank
- 14927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dons | drones |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de don. | Pluriel de drone. |
Where the eye mixes dons and drones
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dons and drones
A purely visual mix-up. dons (\dɔ̃\) and drones (\dʁɔn\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14927, 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\. drones is at rank #10,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʁɔn\.
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 14927, this pair ranks #394,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dons vs drones
Shared letters: dnos. Private to "dons": -. Private to "drones": er.
"dons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "drones" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dons" for "drones" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dons" vs "drones" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "drones" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dons" and "drones" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diodes vs drones". 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 #394,625 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.