Which to use
“dégagée” is an adjective and “dégaine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,602
- “dégagée” frequency rank
- #29,740
- “dégaine” frequency rank
- 46342
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégagée | dégaine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de dégagé. | Tournure ; façon de se tenir ; allure. |
Where the eye mixes dégagée and dégaine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dégagée (CVCVCVV) and dégaine (CVCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: dégagée vs dégaine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dégagée is \de.ɡa.ʒe\ while dégaine is \de.ɡɛn\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46342, 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\. dégaine is at rank #29,740, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ɡɛn\.
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 46342, this pair ranks #195,752 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégagée vs dégaine
Shared letters: adegé. Private to "dégagée": -. Private to "dégaine": in.
"dégagée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "dégaine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dégagée" for "dégaine" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dégagée" or "dégaine" 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 "dégagée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dégaine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,752 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégagée" and "dégaine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dégaine vs draine". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #195,752 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.