déboutévsdébutaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: débouté is a noun, débuta is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débouté” is a noun and “débuta” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,395
“débouté” frequency rank
#32,785
“débuta” frequency rank
76180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débouté débuta
Definition Rejet d’une demande faite en justice. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de débuter.

Where the eye mixes débouté and débuta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. débouté runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against débuta's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
débouté
6 ch
débuta

Visual trap between débouté and débuta

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débouté is \de.bu.te\ while débuta is \de.by.ta\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débouté is recorded at frequency rank #43,395, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.bu.te\. débuta is at rank #32,785, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.by.ta\.

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 76180, this pair ranks #31,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of débouté vs débuta

Shared letters: bdtué. Private to "débouté": o. Private to "débuta": a.

"débouté" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "débuta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "débouté" for "débuta" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débouté" is a noun and "débuta" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "débouté" or "débuta"?
"débuta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,785 in our French list, against #43,395 for "débouté". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "débouté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "débuta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débouté" and "débuta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débouté vs dérouter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,871 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