Which to use
“douane” and “douche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,566
- “douane” frequency rank
- #2,920
- “douche” frequency rank
- 14486
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | douane | douche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Administration chargée de percevoir à la frontière les droits imposés sur l’entrée et la sortie des marchandises et de veiller à ce que les importations ou les exportations prohibées n’aient pas lieu. | Eau naturelle ou minérale qu’on projette sur tout le corps ou sur une partie du corps pour produire une action hygiénique ou thérapeutique. |
Where the eye mixes douane and douche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: douane vs douche
A purely visual mix-up. douane (\dwan\) and douche (\duʃ\) 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 14486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
douane is recorded at frequency rank #11,566, classified as anoun, pronounced \dwan\. douche is at rank #2,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced \duʃ\.
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 14486, this pair ranks #396,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of douane vs douche
Shared letters: deou. Private to "douane": an. Private to "douche": ch.
"douane" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV · "douche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "douane" and "douche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "douane" or "douche"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "douane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "douche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "douane" and "douche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "douane vs doutant". 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 #396,428 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.