débitévsdemieWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,236
“débité” frequency rank
#6,492
“demie” frequency rank
47728
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débité demie
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de débiter. Demi-heure. Note d’usage : On dit de une heure et demie à onze heures et demie, mais rarement les autres (sinon midi, ou minuit, et demi, qui ne sont plus de la même forme).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set débité and demie apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
débité
5 ch
demie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débité is \de.bi.te\ while demie is \də.mi\. 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 47728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débité is recorded at frequency rank #41,236, classified as averb, pronounced \de.bi.te\. demie is at rank #6,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.mi\.

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 47728, this pair ranks #184,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débité vs demie

Shared letters: di. Private to "débité": bté. Private to "demie": em.

"débité" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demieddemie · deime · demei · demmie · dmeie · edmie

Frequency comparison

débité#41,236
demie#6,492

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débité" and "demie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débité" is a verb and "demie" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "débité" or "demie"?
"demie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,492 in our French list, against #41,236 for "débité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering débité vs demie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “débité”; for a noun, it's “demie”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “débité” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list