découlervsdérouleraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,908
“découler” frequency rank
#14,025
“déroulera” frequency rank
49933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature découler déroulera
Definition Couler peu à peu et de suite. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de dérouler.

Where the eye mixes découler and déroulera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. découler runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against déroulera's 9 (CVCVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
découler
9 ch
déroulera

Visual trap between découler and déroulera

A purely visual mix-up. découler (\de.ku.le\) and déroulera (\de.ʁu.lə.ʁa\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

découler is recorded at frequency rank #35,908, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ku.le\. déroulera is at rank #14,025, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁu.lə.ʁa\.

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 49933, this pair ranks #166,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of découler vs déroulera

Shared letters: delorué. Private to "découler": c. Private to "déroulera": a.

"découler" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "déroulera" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "découler" and "déroulera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ku.le\ versus \de.ʁu.lə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "découler" vs "déroulera" - which ranks higher?
"déroulera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,025 in our French list, against #35,908 for "découler". 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 "découler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déroulera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "découler" and "déroulera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découler vs dérouter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #166,691 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