Which to use
“défouler” and “dévoiler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,292
- “défouler” frequency rank
- #9,160
- “dévoiler” frequency rank
- 34452
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défouler | dévoiler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Donner les moyens de satisfaire son agressivité ou ses tensions. | Découvrir ce qui était couvert d’un voile. |
Where the eye mixes défouler and dévoiler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. défouler and dévoiler follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: défouler vs dévoiler
A purely visual mix-up. défouler (\de.fu.le\) and dévoiler (\de.vwa.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
défouler is recorded at frequency rank #25,292, classified as averb, pronounced \de.fu.le\. dévoiler is at rank #9,160, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vwa.le\.
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 34452, this pair ranks #283,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of défouler vs dévoiler
Shared letters: deloré. Private to "défouler": fu. Private to "dévoiler": iv.
"défouler" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "dévoiler" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "défouler" for "dévoiler" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "défouler" or "dévoiler" show up more?
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 "défouler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévoiler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défouler" and "dévoiler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défouler vs dérouter". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #283,718 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.