douéevsdouxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,357
“douée” frequency rank
#2,316
“doux” frequency rank
17673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douée doux
Definition Féminin singulier de doué. Agréable au toucher.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set douée and doux apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
douée
4 ch
doux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. douée (\dwe\) and doux (\du\) 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 17673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

douée is recorded at frequency rank #15,357, classified as anadj, pronounced \dwe\. doux is at rank #2,316, tagged as anadj, pronounced \du\.

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 17673, this pair ranks #382,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of douée vs doux

Shared letters: dou. Private to "douée": . Private to "doux": x.

"douée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "doux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douxddoux · douxx · doxu · duox · odux

Frequency comparison

douée#15,357
doux#2,316

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douée" and "doux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dwe\ versus \du\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douée" or "doux"?
"doux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,316 in our French list, against #15,357 for "douée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering douée vs doux

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 “douée” 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