dégagévsdégagerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dégagé is a adjective, dégager is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dégagé” is an adjective and “dégager” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,648
“dégagé” frequency rank
#5,751
“dégager” frequency rank
15399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégagé dégager
Definition Qualifie une allure, une démarche qui semble n'être pas gênée par quoi que ce soit. Rendre à quelqu’un sa parole, ne pas exiger qu’il tienne sa promesse, l’affranchir de la responsabilité à laquelle il était tenu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dégagé and dégager apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
dégagé
7 ch
dégager

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dégagé and dégager carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ɡa.ʒe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dégagé is recorded at frequency rank #9,648, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ɡa.ʒe\. dégager is at rank #5,751, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ɡa.ʒe\.

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 15399, this pair ranks #392,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dégagé vs dégager

Shared letters: adgé. Private to "dégagé": -. Private to "dégager": er.

"dégagé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "dégager" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

dégagé#9,648
dégager#5,751

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dégagé" and "dégager" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dégagé" is an adjective and "dégager" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dégagé" or "dégager"?
"dégager" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,751 in our French list, against #9,648 for "dégagé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dégagé vs dégager

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “dégagé”; for a verb, it's “dégager”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dégagé” 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