débarquervsdémarqueTell them apart

Quick tell: débarquer is a verb, démarque is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débarquer” is a verb and “démarque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,312
“débarquer” frequency rank
#21,605
“démarque” frequency rank
31917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débarquer démarque
Definition Tirer, ou faire sortir d’un navire, d’un bateau, ce qu’il contient. Chef de dème, tribun de la plèbe.

Where the eye mixes débarquer and démarque

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. débarquer runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against démarque's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
débarquer
8 ch
démarque

Visual trap between débarquer and démarque

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débarquer is \de.baʁ.ke\ while démarque is \de.maʁk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débarquer is recorded at frequency rank #10,312, classified as averb, pronounced \de.baʁ.ke\. démarque is at rank #21,605, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.maʁk\.

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 31917, this pair ranks #300,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débarquer vs démarque

Shared letters: adeqrué. Private to "débarquer": b. Private to "démarque": m.

"débarquer" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "démarque" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "débarquer" for "démarque" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débarquer" is a verb and "démarque" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "débarquer" or "démarque" show up more?
"débarquer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,312 in our French list, against #21,605 for "démarque". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débarquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "démarque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débarquer" and "démarque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démarque vs démarquent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #300,741 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list