débordésvsdéportésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,455
“débordés” frequency rank
#19,818
“déportés” frequency rank
51273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débordés déportés
Definition Masculin pluriel de débordé. Masculin pluriel de déporté.

Where the eye mixes débordés and déportés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. débordés and déportés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
débordés
8 ch
déportés

Why the eye confuses débordés with déportés

A purely visual mix-up. débordés (\de.bɔʁ.de\) and déportés (\de.pɔʁ.te\) 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 51273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débordés is recorded at frequency rank #31,455, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bɔʁ.de\. déportés is at rank #19,818, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pɔʁ.te\.

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 51273, this pair ranks #156,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débordés vs déportés

Shared letters: dorsé. Private to "débordés": b. Private to "déportés": pt.

"débordés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "déportés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "débordés" and "déportés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.bɔʁ.de\ versus \de.pɔʁ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "débordés" or "déportés"?
"déportés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,818 in our French list, against #31,455 for "débordés". 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 "débordés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déportés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #156,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débordés" and "déportés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déportée vs déportés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #156,275 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