dégagévsdémangeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,648
“dégagé” frequency rank
#40,226
“démange” frequency rank
49874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégagé démange
Definition Qualifie une allure, une démarche qui semble n'être pas gênée par quoi que ce soit. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de démanger.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
dégagé
7 ch
démange

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dégagé is \de.ɡa.ʒe\ while démange is \de.mɑ̃ʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49874, 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\. démange is at rank #40,226, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.mɑ̃ʒ\.

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 49874, this pair ranks #167,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dégagé vs démange

Shared letters: adgé. Private to "dégagé": -. Private to "démange": emn.

"dégagé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "démange" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Frequency comparison

dégagé#9,648
démange#40,226

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dégagé" and "démange" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dégagé" is an adjective and "démange" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dégagé" or "démange"?
"dégagé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,648 in our French list, against #40,226 for "démange". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dégagé vs démange

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 “démange”.
  • 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