deboutvsdéçoitTell them apart

Quick tell: debout is a adjective, déçoit is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“debout” is an adjective and “déçoit” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,770
“debout” frequency rank
#23,529
“déçoit” frequency rank
26299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature debout déçoit
Definition Qualifie un vent, de face, quand il est en sens contraire au mouvement de l’aéronef, du navire, etc. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décevoir.

Where the eye mixes debout and déçoit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
debout
6 ch
déçoit

Visual trap between debout and déçoit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: debout is \də.bu\ while déçoit is \de.swa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

debout is recorded at frequency rank #2,770, classified as anadj, pronounced \də.bu\. déçoit is at rank #23,529, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.swa\.

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 26299, this pair ranks #335,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of debout vs déçoit

Shared letters: dot. Private to "debout": beu. Private to "déçoit": içé.

"debout" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "déçoit" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deboutdbeout · ddebout · debbout · debotu · deboutt · debuot · deobut · edbout

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "debout" and "déçoit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "debout" is an adjective and "déçoit" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "debout" or "déçoit"?
"debout" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,770 in our French list, against #23,529 for "déçoit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "debout" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déçoit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #335,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "debout" and "déçoit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déçoit vs démolit". 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 #335,903 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