décorevsdérogeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,232
“décore” frequency rank
#43,401
“déroge” frequency rank
76633
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décore déroge
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décorer. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déroger.

Where the eye mixes décore and déroge

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décore and déroge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
décore
6 ch
déroge

Why the eye confuses décore with déroge

A purely visual mix-up. décore (\de.kɔʁ\) and déroge (\de.ʁɔʒ\) 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 76633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décore is recorded at frequency rank #33,232, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kɔʁ\. déroge is at rank #43,401, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔʒ\.

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 76633, this pair ranks #30,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décore vs déroge

Shared letters: deoré. Private to "décore": c. Private to "déroge": g.

"décore" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "déroge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décore" and "déroge" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔʁ\ versus \de.ʁɔʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décore" vs "déroge" - which ranks higher?
"décore" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,232 in our French list, against #43,401 for "déroge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "décore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déroge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décore" and "déroge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derme vs déroge". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,575 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