dou vs drug, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,238
“dou” frequency rank: #29,732
“drug” frequency rank: 51970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dou	drug
Definition	Forme mutée de tou par adoucissement (t → d).	Médicament, drogue.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

dou

4 ch

drug

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dou (\ˈdu:\) and drug (\dɹʌɡ\) 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 51970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dou is recorded at frequency rank #22,238, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈdu:\. drug is at rank #29,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɹʌɡ\.

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 51970, this pair ranks #151,096 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dou vs drug

Shared letters: du. Private to "dou": o. Private to "drug": gr.

"dou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

drug ← ddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequency comparison

dou#22,238

drug#29,732

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dou" and "drug" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\ˈdu:\ versus \dɹʌɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "dou" or "drug"?

"dou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,238 in our French list, against #29,732 for "drug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dou vs drug

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 “dou” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable