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 eye mixes douane and doutant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. douane runs 6 letters (CVVVCV) against doutant's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses douane with doutant
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "douane" and "doutant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "douane" or "doutant"?
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 "doutant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "douane" and "doutant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dotant 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 #93,731 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.