Which to use
“dour” is an adjective and “doute” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- #489
- “doute” frequency rank
- 44915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dour | doute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. | Incertitude sur l’existence ou la vérité d’une chose, sur l'exactitude ou la fausseté d’une idée, d’une affirmation. |
Where the eye mixes dour and doute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dour vs doute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dour is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\ while doute is \dut\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dour is recorded at frequency rank #44,426, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\. doute is at rank #489, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dut\.
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 44915, this pair ranks #206,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dour vs doute
Shared letters: dou. Private to "dour": r. Private to "doute": et.
"dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "doute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dour" and "doute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dour" or "doute"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dour" and "doute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "domi vs dour". 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 #206,836 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.