DeckvsdéjàWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Deck is a noun, déjà is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Deck” is a noun and “déjà” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,877
“Deck” frequency rank
#44,541
“déjà” frequency rank
54418
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Deck déjà
Definition Plattform über einem Schiffsraum, auch der Raum zwischen zwei Decks zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt als erwartet

Where the eye mixes Deck and déjà

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
Deck
4 ch
déjà

Look-alike desk: Deck vs déjà

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Deck is [dɛk] 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Deck is recorded at frequency rank #9,877, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɛk]. 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 54418, this pair ranks #1,019,711 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Deck vs déjà

Shared letters: d. Private to "Deck": cek. Private to "déjà": jàé.

"Deck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Deckdcek · ddeck · decck · deckk · dekc · edck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Deck" for "déjà" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Deck" is a noun and "déjà" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Deck" or "déjà" show up more?
"Deck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,877 in our German list, against #44,541 for "déjà". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Deck" 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 #1,019,711 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Deck" 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 #1,019,711 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list