défilévsdépitéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: défilé is a noun, dépité is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“défilé” is a noun and “dépité” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,498
“défilé” frequency rank
#35,482
“dépité” frequency rank
41980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature défilé dépité
Definition Passage étroit où il ne peut passer que peu de personnes de front. Qui éprouve du dépit.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set défilé and dépité apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
défilé
6 ch
dépité

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: défilé is \de.fi.le\ while dépité is \de.pi.te\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

défilé is recorded at frequency rank #6,498, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.fi.le\. dépité is at rank #35,482, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pi.te\.

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 41980, this pair ranks #229,096 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of défilé vs dépité

Shared letters: dié. Private to "défilé": fl. Private to "dépité": pt.

"défilé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "dépité" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

défilé#6,498
dépité#35,482

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "défilé" and "dépité" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "défilé" is a noun and "dépité" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "défilé" or "dépité"?
"défilé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,498 in our French list, against #35,482 for "dépité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering défilé vs dépité

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “défilé”; for an adjective, it's “dépité”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “défilé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list