douéevsdouzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,357
“douée” frequency rank
#2,472
“douze” frequency rank
17829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douée douze
Definition Féminin singulier de doué. Onze plus un, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 12.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set douée and douze apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
douée
5 ch
douze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. douée (\dwe\) and douze (\duz\) 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 a single letter - é in “douée” becomes z in “douze”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17829, 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\. douze is at rank #2,472, tagged as anadj, pronounced \duz\.

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 17829, this pair ranks #381,281 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of douée vs douze

Shared letters: deou. Private to "douée": é. Private to "douze": z.

"douée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "douze" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douzeddouze · douez · douzze · dozue · duoze · oduze

Frequency comparison

douée#15,357
douze#2,472

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douée" and "douze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dwe\ versus \duz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douée" or "douze"?
"douze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,472 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 douze

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