Which to use
“de” is a preposition and “dt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1
- “de” frequency rank
- #20,423
- “dt” frequency rank
- 20424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | de | dt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Marque un ablatif. Mot indiquant la provenance, l’origine ^([note 1]). | Débit. |
Where the eye mixes de and dt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: de is \də\ while dt is \de.bi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “de” becomes t in “dt”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
de is recorded at frequency rank #1, classified as aprep, pronounced \də\. dt is at rank #20,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.bi\.
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 20424, this pair ranks #368,343 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of de vs dt
Shared letters: d. Private to "de": e. Private to "dt": t.
"de" · 2 letters · shape CV · "dt" · 2 letters · shape CC