Which to use
“débiles” is an adjective and “devises” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,362
- “débiles” frequency rank
- #13,152
- “devises” frequency rank
- 25514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débiles | devises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de débile. | Pluriel de devise. |
Where the eye mixes débiles and devises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. débiles and devises follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses débiles with devises
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débiles is \de.bil\ while devises 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 25514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débiles is recorded at frequency rank #12,362, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bil\. devises is at rank #13,152, 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 25514, this pair ranks #340,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of débiles vs devises
Shared letters: deis. Private to "débiles": blé. Private to "devises": v.
"débiles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "devises" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devises ← ddevises · deivses · deviess · devisess · devisses · devsies · devvises · dveises
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "débiles" and "devises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "débiles" or "devises" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "débiles" and "devises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "débiles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débiles" and "devises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devins vs devises". 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 #340,425 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.