Which to use
“déborde” and “débordent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,859
- “déborde” frequency rank
- #31,454
- “débordent” frequency rank
- 47313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | déborde | débordent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de déborder. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de déborder. |
Same sound, different letters: déborde vs débordent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. déborde runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against débordent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - déborde and débordent
This is the hard kind. déborde and débordent are pronounced identically (\de.bɔʁd\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “déborde” sits inside “débordent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
déborde is recorded at frequency rank #15,859, classified as averb, pronounced \de.bɔʁd\. débordent is at rank #31,454, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.bɔʁd\.
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 47313, this pair ranks #187,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of déborde vs débordent
Shared letters: bdeoré. Private to "déborde": -. Private to "débordent": nt.
"déborde" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "débordent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "déborde" and "débordent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "déborde" or "débordent"?
Useful next steps
"déborde" and "débordent" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "déborde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "débordent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #187,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "déborde" and "débordent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débordent vs déforment". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #187,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.