déformevsdéforméeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“déforme” and “déformée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,576
“déforme” frequency rank
#30,577
“déformée” frequency rank
61153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déforme déformée
Definition Baisse de forme ou de moral. Déformation d'un objet en flexion.

Where the eye mixes déforme and déformée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
déforme
8 ch
déformée

Visual trap between déforme and déformée

A purely visual mix-up. déforme (\de.fɔʁm\) and déformée (\de.fɔʁ.me\) 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 61153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déforme is recorded at frequency rank #30,576, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.fɔʁm\. déformée is at rank #30,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.fɔʁ.me\.

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 61153, this pair ranks #93,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déforme vs déformée

Shared letters: defmoré. Private to "déforme": -. Private to "déformée": -.

"déforme" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "déformée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déforme" for "déformée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.fɔʁm\ versus \de.fɔʁ.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déforme" or "déformée"?
"déforme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,576 in our French list, against #30,577 for "déformée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déforme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déformée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déforme" and "déformée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déformée vs déforment". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #93,806 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