dorésvsdormiConfusable pair

Quick tell: dorés is a adjective, dormi is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dorés” is an adjective and “dormi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,260
“dorés” frequency rank
#6,289
“dormi” frequency rank
25549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dorés dormi
Definition Masculin pluriel de doré. Participe passé masculin singulier de dormir.

Where the eye mixes dorés and dormi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dorés (CVCVC) and dormi (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
dorés
5 ch
dormi

Why the eye confuses dorés with dormi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dorés is \dɔ.ʁe\ while dormi is \dɔʁ.mi\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dorés is recorded at frequency rank #19,260, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɔ.ʁe\. dormi is at rank #6,289, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ.mi\.

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 25549, this pair ranks #340,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dorés vs dormi

Shared letters: dor. Private to "dorés": sé. Private to "dormi": im.

"dorés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dormi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dormi ← ddormi · domri · dorim · dormmi · dorrmi · dromi · odrmi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dorés" for "dormi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dorés" is an adjective and "dormi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "dorés" or "dormi" show up more?
"dormi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,289 in our French list, against #19,260 for "dorés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dorés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dormi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #340,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dorés" and "dormi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dorés vs douées". 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 #340,238 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list