Which to use
“défait” is an adjective and “devait” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,757
- “défait” frequency rank
- #871
- “devait” frequency rank
- 12628
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défait | devait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est dénoué, déconstruit, mis dans un état inconvenable, désordonné. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir. |
Where the eye mixes défait and devait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between défait and devait
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: défait is \de.fɛ\ while devait is \də.vɛ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
défait is recorded at frequency rank #11,757, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.fɛ\. devait is at rank #871, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\.
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 12628, this pair ranks #404,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of défait vs devait
Shared letters: adit. Private to "défait": fé. Private to "devait": ev.
"défait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devait ← ddevait · deavit · devaitt · devati · deviat · devvait · dveait · edvait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "défait" and "devait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "défait" or "devait" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "défait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,455 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défait" and "devait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devait vs Devaux". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #404,455 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.