Which to use
“défait” is an adjective and “durait” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,757
- “défait” frequency rank
- #28,523
- “durait” frequency rank
- 40280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défait | durait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est dénoué, déconstruit, mis dans un état inconvenable, désordonné. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de durer. |
Where the eye mixes défait and durait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. défait and durait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between défait and durait
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: défait is \de.fɛ\ while durait is \dy.ʁɛ\. 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 40280, 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\. durait is at rank #28,523, tagged as averb, pronounced \dy.ʁɛ\.
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 40280, this pair ranks #241,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of défait vs durait
Shared letters: adit. Private to "défait": fé. Private to "durait": ru.
"défait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "durait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- durait ← ddurait · druait · duarit · duraitt · durati · duriat · durrait · udrait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "défait" and "durait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "défait" or "durait"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "défait" and "durait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "défait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "durait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #241,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défait" and "durait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "durait vs durerait". 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 #241,675 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.