devoir
\də.vwaʁ\
The verdict
“devoir” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #843. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #843
- frequency rank, French
- 5,307
- “D” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Avoir à payer une somme d’argent, à rendre ou à donner quelque chose que ce soit.
Corpus desk
Index FR-devoir · devoir · French
devoir · rank #843 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #843
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,307
- PHOTO-FINISH construction
Nearest frequency peer: construction (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “devoir”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- arrivée
arrivée
99,161 corpus weight
- coeur
coeur
99,160 corpus weight
- construction
construction
99,159 corpus weight
- devoir
devoir
99,158 corpus weight
- double
double
99,157 corpus weight
- Information
Information
99,156 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “devoir” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | devoir |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \də.vwaʁ\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #843 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “devoir” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around devoir (IPA \də.vwaʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #843 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for devoir, with forms such as "ddevoir", "deovir", and "devior". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "devon", "devos", "devons", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is devoir, spelled D-E-V-O-I-R.
Definition
- 1Avoir à payer une somme d’argent, à rendre ou à donner quelque chose que ce soit.
- 2(Suivi de l’infinitif) Être obligé à quelque chose par la morale, par la loi, par sa condition, par l’honneur, par la bienséance, etc.
- 3Être dans la nécessité de.
- 4Être redevable à, tenir de.
- 5Il se dit aussi pour marquer qu’il y a une espèce de justice, de raison, de nécessité, etc., qu’une chose soit.
- 6Être inévitable.
- 7Suivi d’un infinitif, il joue aussi en quelque sorte le rôle d’un auxiliaire et se dit de ce qui paraît vraisemblable, probable, plus ou moins certain.
- 8Il se dit de ce qu’on croit, ou qu’on présume, ou qu’on suppose qui arrivera.
- 9À l’imparfait du subjonctif (dusse), et en tête de la phrase, il s’emploie dans le sens de quand même.
- 10Il se dit aussi pour marquer l’intention qu’on a de faire quelque chose.
- 11Se dit spécialement pour être dans l’obligation morale de se donner, de se dévouer à sa famille, à sa patrie, à ses amis.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how devoir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le moulin de Montgon ayant été supprimé par suite de la création du canal des Ardennes , outre l’indemnité d’expropriation due au propriétaire , il en était dû une au fermier […].
Je vous paierai à la date fixée tout ce que je vous dois.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddevoir
- deovir
- devior
- devoirr
- devori
- devvoir
- dveoir
- edvoir
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of devoir - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "devoir"?
What does "devoir" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "devoir"?
How do you pronounce "devoir"?
What language does "devoir" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "devoir", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "devoir". Here's where to go from here.
- "devoir" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "devon". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #843 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.