Which to use
“dour” is an adjective and “dum” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,426
- “dour” frequency rank
- #37,286
- “dum” frequency rank
- 81712
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dour | dum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Austère, dur, inhospitalier. | Pendant, durant, pendant que, tandis que. |
Where the eye mixes dour and dum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dour runs 4 letters (CVVC) against dum's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dour with dum
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dour is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\ while dum is \dum\. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81712, 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)\. dum is at rank #37,286, tagged as aprep, pronounced \dum\.
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 81712, this pair ranks #18,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dour vs dum
Shared letters: du. Private to "dour": or. Private to "dum": m.
"dour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dum" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dour ← ddour · doru · dourr · duor · odur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dour" for "dum" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dour" or "dum"?
What to do next
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 "dum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,193 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dour" and "dum" 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 #18,193 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.