Which to use
“décrivez” and “dériver” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,359
- “décrivez” frequency rank
- #25,632
- “dériver” frequency rank
- 61991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décrivez | dériver |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décrire. | Détourner un cours d’eau. |
Where the eye mixes décrivez and dériver
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décrivez runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against dériver's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses décrivez with dériver
A purely visual mix-up. décrivez (\de.kʁi.ve\) and dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) 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 61991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décrivez is recorded at frequency rank #36,359, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kʁi.ve\. dériver is at rank #25,632, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\.
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 61991, this pair ranks #89,415 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décrivez vs dériver
Shared letters: deirvé. Private to "décrivez": cz. Private to "dériver": -.
"décrivez" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décrivez" and "dériver" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "décrivez" or "dériver" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "décrivez" and "dériver" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décrivez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dériver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,415 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décrivez" and "dériver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décriée vs décrivez". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #89,415 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.