Which to use
“débile” is an adjective and “devise” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,550
- “débile” frequency rank
- #7,050
- “devise” frequency rank
- 12600
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débile | devise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faible, qui manque de forces, de vigueur. | Figure accompagnée d’une phrase exprimant d’une manière allégorique et brève quelque pensée, quelque sentiment. |
Where the eye mixes débile and devise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses débile with devise
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débile is \de.bil\ while devise is \də.viz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12600, 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\. devise is at rank #7,050, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.viz\.
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 12600, this pair ranks #404,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of débile vs devise
Shared letters: dei. Private to "débile": blé. Private to "devise": sv.
"débile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "devise" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- devise ← ddevise · deivse · devies · devisse · devsie · devvise · dveise · edvise
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "débile" and "devise" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "débile" or "devise" 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 "débile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débile" and "devise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devins vs devise". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #404,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.