Would you call a female deer a do, doe, or dough? When you take a nap, do you does, doughs, or doze? When you finish a project, are you done or dun with it? Is the senior male member of a group a doyen or doyenne?
Soviet dissidents in Munich, wikimedia commons
dissidence, dissidents
Dissidence is a disagreement.
The dissidence between the rival gangs was quickly escalating to violence.
Dissidents are people who oppose official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state
Even though they were being chased by police, the dissidents escaped the country they no longer wished to claim as home.
divers, diverse
Divers are two or more people who are diving or plunging into something like water. Divers also means various.
The room was filled with divers items of every size and shape.
Diverse means different or unlike.
Their diverse opinions caused conflict to break out in the school.
In a room full of divers (various) writers, you will find many diverse (different) opinions.
bread dough before first rising, wikipedia
divorcé, divorcée
A divorcé is a divorced man.
The new divorcé packed his belongings and moved to a new town so he wouldn’t be near to his ex-wife’s hostile family.
A divorcée is a divorced woman.
The attractive divorcée had no trouble finding a date for the party.
do, doe, dough
Do (rhymes with go) is the first note of the diatonic scale.
”Do re me. . .,” sang the class.
A doe is a female kangaroo, deer, goat, or rabbit.
A beautiful doe with her young has been frequenting the pasture where we once kept goats.
Dough is a mixture of flour, milk, water, etc. that will be made into some sort of bread.
She put the pizza dough inside a warm oven to rise while she fried the sausage and prepared the other toppings.
does, wikimedia commons
does, does, doughs, doze
Does (rhymes with buzz) means performs, completes, or accomplishes.
Tyler does his homework as soon as he gets home from school.
Does (rhymes with nose) are two or more female kangaroos, deer, goats, or rabbits.
All of the does were herded into an enclosure to be taken to the auction.
Doughs are two or more mixtures of flour, water, etc. that will be made into bread.
She chose one day to make all the doughs, then individually wrapped and froze each one for later use.
Doze means to nap or sleep lightly. It is also a shortened form of bulldozer.
Since I didn’t get much sleep last night, I will doze sometime during the day.
done, dun
Done means finished or completed.
They were finally done with the project they had been working on for the past six months.
A dun is a demand for payment, especially a written one. Dun is also a drab color, an almost neutral brownish gray to a dull grayish brown.
Before she even opened the envelope, she could tell that the dun she had known the contractor would send to her had arrived.
pay dues, flickr
do’s, dos, dues
Do’s and dos are plural forms of do.
Each child received a list of the do’s and don’ts before leaving with the larger group for a weekend camping trip.
Dues are a predetermined amount of money owed at specific intervals for the privilege of belonging to a specific group.
Her exercise group membership dues were paid once every six months.
dour, dower, dowry
Dour means stern, harsh, or gloomy.
Father entered the room with such a dour expression on his face that soon the rest of the family was depressed.
A dower is the portion of or interest in the real estate of a deceased husband that is given by law to his widow during her life
The wealthy man left behind a large dower for his widow.
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a wife brings to her husband at marriage.
The bride’s family was poor, but the small size of her dowry was in no danger of diminishing the groom’s love for her.
dowry system in India, wikipedia
doyen, doyenne
A doyen is the senior male member of any group, profession, or society.
The well-respected doyen of the small village lived to be over 100 years old.
A doyenne is the senior female member of any group, profession, or society.
The town’s rich doyenne was under investigation for murder.
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