déduitevsdéfaiteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: déduite is a verb, défaite is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“déduite” is a verb and “défaite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,854
“déduite” frequency rank
#2,121
“défaite” frequency rank
49975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déduite défaite
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de déduire. Déroute d’une armée ou de quelques troupes.

Where the eye mixes déduite and défaite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. déduite and défaite follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
déduite
7 ch
défaite

Visual trap between déduite and défaite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déduite is \de.dɥit\ while défaite is \de.fɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déduite is recorded at frequency rank #47,854, classified as averb, pronounced \de.dɥit\. défaite is at rank #2,121, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.fɛt\.

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 49975, this pair ranks #166,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déduite vs défaite

Shared letters: deité. Private to "déduite": u. Private to "défaite": af.

"déduite" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "défaite" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déduite" for "défaite" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déduite" is a verb and "défaite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "déduite" or "défaite"?
"défaite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,121 in our French list, against #47,854 for "déduite". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "déduite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "défaite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #166,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déduite" and "défaite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déduite vs désuète". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #166,337 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