Which to use
“doux” and “dus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,316
- “doux” frequency rank
- #9,817
- “dus” frequency rank
- 12133
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doux | dus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agréable au toucher. | Masculin pluriel de dû. |
Where the eye mixes doux and dus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses doux with dus
A purely visual mix-up. doux (\du\) and dus (\dy\) 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 12133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doux is recorded at frequency rank #2,316, classified as anadj, pronounced \du\. dus is at rank #9,817, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.
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 12133, this pair ranks #406,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of doux vs dus
Shared letters: du. Private to "doux": ox. Private to "dus": s.
"doux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "dus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- doux ← ddoux · douxx · doxu · duox · odux
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "doux" and "dus" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "doux" or "dus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "doux" and "dus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "doux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doux" and "dus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dus". 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 #406,461 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.