dégagentvsdérangentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“dégagent” and “dérangent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,704
“dégagent” frequency rank
#26,706
“dérangent” frequency rank
47410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégagent dérangent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de dégager. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de déranger.

Where the eye mixes dégagent and dérangent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dégagent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against dérangent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
dégagent
9 ch
dérangent

Why the eye confuses dégagent with dérangent

A purely visual mix-up. dégagent (\de.ɡaʒ\) and dérangent (\de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dégagent is recorded at frequency rank #20,704, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ɡaʒ\. dérangent is at rank #26,706, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\.

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 47410, this pair ranks #187,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dégagent vs dérangent

Shared letters: adegnté. Private to "dégagent": -. Private to "dérangent": r.

"dégagent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "dérangent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dégagent" and "dérangent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ɡaʒ\ versus \de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dégagent" vs "dérangent" - which ranks higher?
"dégagent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,704 in our French list, against #26,706 for "dérangent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dégagent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dérangent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dégagent" and "dérangent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décadent vs dégagent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #187,180 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list