Which to use
“découle” and “défoule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,390
- “découle” frequency rank
- #42,842
- “défoule” frequency rank
- 54232
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | découle | défoule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de découler. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de défouler. |
Where the eye mixes découle and défoule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. découle and défoule follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses découle with défoule
A purely visual mix-up. découle (\de.kul\) and défoule (\de.ful\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “découle” becomes f in “défoule”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
découle is recorded at frequency rank #11,390, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kul\. défoule is at rank #42,842, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ful\.
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 54232, this pair ranks #135,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of découle vs défoule
Shared letters: deloué. Private to "découle": c. Private to "défoule": f.
"découle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "défoule" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "découle" and "défoule" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "découle" or "défoule"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "découle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "défoule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "découle" and "défoule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défoule vs déroula". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #135,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.