douéesvsduesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,709
“douées” frequency rank
#8,532
“dues” frequency rank
55241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douées dues
Definition Féminin pluriel de doué. Féminin pluriel de dû.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
douées
4 ch
dues

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. douées (\dwe\) and dues (\dy\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

douées is recorded at frequency rank #46,709, classified as anadj, pronounced \dwe\. dues is at rank #8,532, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.

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 55241, this pair ranks #128,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of douées vs dues

Shared letters: desu. Private to "douées": . Private to "dues": -.

"douées" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC  ·  "dues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duesddues · duess · duse · udes

Frequency comparison

douées#46,709
dues#8,532

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douées" and "dues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dwe\ versus \dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douées" or "dues"?
"dues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,532 in our French list, against #46,709 for "douées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering douées vs dues

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 “douées” 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