douanevsdoutantWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,566
“douane” frequency rank
#49,604
“doutant” frequency rank
61170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douane doutant
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. Personne qui doute.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set douane and doutant apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
douane
7 ch
doutant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. douane (\dwan\) and doutant (\du.tɑ̃\) 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 61170, 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\. doutant is at rank #49,604, tagged as anoun, pronounced \du.tɑ̃\.

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 61170, this pair ranks #93,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of douane vs doutant

Shared letters: adnou. Private to "douane": e. Private to "doutant": t.

"douane" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV  ·  "doutant" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douaneddouane · doaune · douaen · douanne · dounae · duoane · oduane
  • doutantddoutant · dotuant · douatnt · doutannt · doutantt · doutatn · doutnat · douttant

Frequency comparison

douane#11,566
doutant#49,604

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douane" and "doutant" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dwan\ versus \du.tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douane" or "doutant"?
"douane" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,566 in our French list, against #49,604 for "doutant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering douane vs doutant

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 “douane” 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