Which to use
“dear” is an adjective and “déjà” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,506
- “dear” frequency rank
- #44,541
- “déjà” frequency rank
- 75047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | déjà |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig | zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt als erwartet |
Where the eye mixes dear and déjà
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. dear (CVVC) and déjà (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dear and déjà
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dear is [diɹ] while déjà is [de.ʒa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dear is recorded at frequency rank #30,506, classified as anadj, pronounced [diɹ]. déjà is at rank #44,541, tagged as anadv, pronounced [de.ʒa].
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 75047, this pair ranks #317,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs déjà
Shared letters: d. Private to "dear": aer. Private to "déjà": jàé.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dear ← ddear · dearr · dera · edar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dear" for "déjà" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dear" or "déjà"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déjà" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "déjà" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déjà vs dess". 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 #317,789 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.