Which to use
“débile” is an adjective and “dévie” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,550
- “débile” frequency rank
- #35,008
- “dévie” frequency rank
- 40558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débile | dévie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faible, qui manque de forces, de vigueur. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dévier. |
Where the eye mixes débile and dévie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. débile runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against dévie's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: débile vs dévie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débile is \de.bil\ while dévie is \de.vi\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débile is recorded at frequency rank #5,550, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bil\. dévie is at rank #35,008, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vi\.
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 40558, this pair ranks #239,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of débile vs dévie
Shared letters: deié. Private to "débile": bl. Private to "dévie": v.
"débile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dévie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "débile" for "dévie" ever safe?
Frequency check: "débile" vs "dévie" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "débile" and "dévie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "débile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débile" and "dévie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs dévie". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #239,609 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.