décodervsdévorerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,230
“décoder” frequency rank
#17,692
“dévorer” frequency rank
50922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décoder dévorer
Definition Déchiffrer ce qui est codé. Manger avec voracité et rapidité (le sujet désigne un animal carnassier).

Where the eye mixes décoder and dévorer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
décoder
7 ch
dévorer

Look-alike desk: décoder vs dévorer

A purely visual mix-up. décoder (\de.kɔ.de\) and dévorer (\de.vɔ.ʁe\) 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 50922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décoder is recorded at frequency rank #33,230, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kɔ.de\. dévorer is at rank #17,692, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vɔ.ʁe\.

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 50922, this pair ranks #158,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décoder vs dévorer

Shared letters: deoré. Private to "décoder": c. Private to "dévorer": v.

"décoder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dévorer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décoder" and "dévorer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔ.de\ versus \de.vɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "décoder" or "dévorer"?
"dévorer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,692 in our French list, against #33,230 for "décoder". 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 "décoder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévorer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décoder" and "dévorer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs décoder". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #158,893 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