doutervsdurerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,445
“douter” frequency rank
#4,566
“durer” frequency rank
10011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douter durer
Definition Être dans l’incertitude, n’être pas sûr. Continuer d’être, se prolonger.

Where the eye mixes douter and durer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
douter
5 ch
durer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. douter (\du.te\) and durer (\dy.ʁe\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

douter is recorded at frequency rank #5,445, classified as averb, pronounced \du.te\. durer is at rank #4,566, tagged as averb, pronounced \dy.ʁe\.

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 10011, this pair ranks #414,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of douter vs durer

Shared letters: deru. Private to "douter": ot. Private to "durer": -.

"douter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "durer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douterddouter · dotuer · douetr · douterr · doutre · doutter · duoter · oduter
  • durerddurer · druer · duerr · durerr · durrer · udrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "douter" and "durer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\du.te\ versus \dy.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douter" or "durer"?
"durer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,566 in our French list, against #5,445 for "douter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list