débitsvsdevinsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“débits” and “devins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,177
“débits” frequency rank
#47,827
“devins” frequency rank
66004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débits devins
Definition Pluriel de débit. Pluriel de devin.

Where the eye mixes débits and devins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. débits and devins follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
débits
6 ch
devins

Look-alike desk: débits vs devins

A purely visual mix-up. débits (\de.bi\) and devins (\də.vɛ̃\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débits is recorded at frequency rank #18,177, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.bi\. devins is at rank #47,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vɛ̃\.

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 66004, this pair ranks #69,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of débits vs devins

Shared letters: dis. Private to "débits": bté. Private to "devins": env.

"débits" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "devins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devins ← ddevins · deivns · devinns · devinss · devisn · devnis · devvins · dveins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "débits" for "devins" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.bi\ versus \də.vɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "débits" vs "devins" - which ranks higher?
"débits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,177 in our French list, against #47,827 for "devins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débits" and "devins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviants vs devins". 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 #69,770 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list