Which to use
“débordent” and “dévorent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,454
- “débordent” frequency rank
- #41,759
- “dévorent” frequency rank
- 73213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | débordent | dévorent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de déborder. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dévorer. |
Where the eye mixes débordent and dévorent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. débordent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against dévorent's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between débordent and dévorent
A purely visual mix-up. débordent (\de.bɔʁd\) and dévorent (\de.vɔʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
débordent is recorded at frequency rank #31,454, classified as averb, pronounced \de.bɔʁd\. dévorent is at rank #41,759, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vɔʁ\.
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 73213, this pair ranks #41,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of débordent vs dévorent
Shared letters: denorté. Private to "débordent": b. Private to "dévorent": v.
"débordent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "dévorent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "débordent" and "dévorent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "débordent" or "dévorent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "débordent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévorent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "débordent" and "dévorent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déforment vs dévorent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #41,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.