dorévsdownWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,424
“doré” frequency rank
#8,531
“down” frequency rank
15955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doré down
Definition Recouvert d’or, plaqué or. Dépressif, déprimé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set doré and down apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
doré
4 ch
down

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. doré (\dɔ.ʁe\) and down (\dɔn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doré is recorded at frequency rank #7,424, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɔ.ʁe\. down is at rank #8,531, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɔn\.

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 15955, this pair ranks #390,074 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of doré vs down

Shared letters: do. Private to "doré": . Private to "down": nw.

"doré" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "down" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • downddown · donw · downn · dowwn · dwon · odwn

Frequency comparison

doré#7,424
down#8,531

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doré" and "down" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɔ.ʁe\ versus \dɔn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "doré" or "down"?
"doré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,424 in our French list, against #8,531 for "down". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering doré vs down

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 “doré” 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