doumavsdourWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: douma is a noun, dour is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“douma” is a noun and “dour” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,982
“douma” frequency rank
#44,426
“dour” frequency rank
75408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douma dour
Definition Chambre basse du parlement en Russie. Austère, dur, inhospitalier.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
douma
4 ch
dour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: douma is \du.ma\ while dour is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

douma is recorded at frequency rank #30,982, classified as anoun, pronounced \du.ma\. dour is at rank #44,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\.

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 75408, this pair ranks #34,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of douma vs dour

Shared letters: dou. Private to "douma": am. Private to "dour": r.

"douma" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doumaddouma · domua · douam · doumma · duoma · oduma
  • dourddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur

Frequency comparison

douma#30,982
dour#44,426

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douma" and "dour" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "douma" is a noun and "dour" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "douma" or "dour"?
"douma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,982 in our French list, against #44,426 for "dour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering douma vs dour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “douma”; for an adjective, it's “dour”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “douma” 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