déblayervsdéplacerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,848
“déblayer” frequency rank
#4,069
“déplacer” frequency rank
51917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déblayer déplacer
Definition Débarrasser, dégager un lieu des choses qui l’encombrent, qui s’y trouvent entassées confusément. Prendre quelque chose ou quelqu’un et le mettre ailleurs.

Where the eye mixes déblayer and déplacer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
déblayer
8 ch
déplacer

Look-alike desk: déblayer vs déplacer

A purely visual mix-up. déblayer (\de.ble.je\) and déplacer (\de.pla.se\) 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 51917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déblayer is recorded at frequency rank #47,848, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ble.je\. déplacer is at rank #4,069, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pla.se\.

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 51917, this pair ranks #151,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déblayer vs déplacer

Shared letters: adelré. Private to "déblayer": by. Private to "déplacer": cp.

"déblayer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC  ·  "déplacer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déblayer" and "déplacer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ble.je\ versus \de.pla.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "déblayer" or "déplacer" show up more?
"déplacer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,069 in our French list, against #47,848 for "déblayer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déblayer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déplacer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déblayer" and "déplacer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déblayer vs déployer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,477 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