Which to use
“dormais” and “dormir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,990
- “dormais” frequency rank
- #1,861
- “dormir” frequency rank
- 20851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dormais | dormir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dormir. | Se reposer dans un état inconscient, de sommeil. |
Where the eye mixes dormais and dormir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dormais with dormir
A purely visual mix-up. dormais (\dɔʁ.mɛ\) and dormir (\dɔʁ.miʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dormais is recorded at frequency rank #18,990, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ.mɛ\. dormir is at rank #1,861, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ.miʁ\.
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 20851, this pair ranks #366,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dormais vs dormir
Shared letters: dimor. Private to "dormais": as. Private to "dormir": -.
"dormais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "dormir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dormais" for "dormir" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dormais" or "dormir"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dormais" and "dormir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dormais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dormir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dormais" and "dormir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dormaient vs dormais". 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 #366,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.