doutentvsdouteuxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: doutent is a verb, douteux is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“doutent” is a verb and “douteux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,700
“doutent” frequency rank
#9,641
“douteux” frequency rank
30341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doutent douteux
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de douter. Qui est l'objet d'un doute, faute d'éléments suffisants d'information.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set doutent and douteux apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
doutent
7 ch
douteux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doutent is \dut\ while douteux is \du.tø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doutent is recorded at frequency rank #20,700, classified as averb, pronounced \dut\. douteux is at rank #9,641, tagged as anadj, pronounced \du.tø\.

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 30341, this pair ranks #310,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doutent vs douteux

Shared letters: deotu. Private to "doutent": n. Private to "douteux": x.

"doutent" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "douteux" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • doutentddoutent · dotuent · douetnt · doutennt · doutentt · doutetn · doutnet · douttent
  • douteuxddouteux · dotueux · douetux · douteuxx · doutexu · doutteux · doutuex · duoteux

Frequency comparison

doutent#20,700
douteux#9,641

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doutent" and "douteux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doutent" is a verb and "douteux" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doutent" or "douteux"?
"douteux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,641 in our French list, against #20,700 for "doutent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering doutent vs douteux

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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