Which to use
“débiter” and “dériver” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,810
- “débiter” frequency rank
- #25,632
- “dériver” frequency rank
- 62442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débiter | dériver |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vendre d’une façon continue, répétée, surtout au détail. | Détourner un cours d’eau. |
Where the eye mixes débiter and dériver
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. débiter and dériver 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 débiter with dériver
A purely visual mix-up. débiter (\de.bi.te\) and dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débiter is recorded at frequency rank #36,810, classified as averb, pronounced \de.bi.te\. dériver is at rank #25,632, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\.
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 62442, this pair ranks #87,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of débiter vs dériver
Shared letters: deiré. Private to "débiter": bt. Private to "dériver": v.
"débiter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "débiter" for "dériver" ever safe?
Frequency check: "débiter" vs "dériver" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "débiter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dériver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débiter" and "dériver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débiter vs désister". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #87,124 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.