dégagéevsdégagesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,602
“dégagée” frequency rank
#39,759
“dégages” frequency rank
56361
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégagée dégages
Definition Féminin singulier de dégagé. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de dégager.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dégagée and dégages apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
dégagée
7 ch
dégages

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dégagée is \de.ɡa.ʒe\ while dégages is \de.ɡaʒ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dégagée is recorded at frequency rank #16,602, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ɡa.ʒe\. dégages is at rank #39,759, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ɡaʒ\.

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 56361, this pair ranks #121,552 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dégagée vs dégages

Shared letters: adegé. Private to "dégagée": -. Private to "dégages": s.

"dégagée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "dégages" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

dégagée#16,602
dégages#39,759

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dégagée" and "dégages" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dégagée" is an adjective and "dégages" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dégagée" or "dégages"?
"dégagée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,602 in our French list, against #39,759 for "dégages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dégagée vs dégages

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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