Which to use
“dont” is a pronoun and “dota” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #119
- “dont” frequency rank
- #44,989
- “dota” frequency rank
- 45108
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dont | dota |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | De qui ; de quoi ; duquel ; de laquelle ; desquels , desquelles. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe doter. |
Where the eye mixes dont and dota
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dont with dota
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dont is \dɔ̃\ while dota is \dɔ.ta\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dont is recorded at frequency rank #119, classified as apron, pronounced \dɔ̃\. dota is at rank #44,989, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔ.ta\.
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 45108, this pair ranks #205,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dont vs dota
Shared letters: dot. Private to "dont": n. Private to "dota": a.
"dont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dont" for "dota" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dont" or "dota"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dont" and "dota" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dont" and "dota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dota vs dotant". 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 #205,339 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.