Which to use
“déballage” and “décalage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,993
- “déballage” frequency rank
- #7,427
- “décalage” frequency rank
- 52420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | déballage | décalage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de déballer. | Action de décaler ou résultat de cette action. |
Where the eye mixes déballage and décalage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. déballage runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against décalage's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses déballage with décalage
A purely visual mix-up. déballage (\de.ba.laʒ\) and décalage (\de.ka.laʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
déballage is recorded at frequency rank #44,993, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ba.laʒ\. décalage is at rank #7,427, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ka.laʒ\.
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 52420, this pair ranks #147,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of déballage vs décalage
Shared letters: adeglé. Private to "déballage": b. Private to "décalage": c.
"déballage" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "décalage" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "déballage" and "décalage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "déballage" or "décalage" show up more?
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 "déballage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décalage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "déballage" and "décalage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dallage vs déballage". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #147,847 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.