degasvsdegliWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: degas is a verb, degli is an article, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“degas” is a verb and “degli” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,742
“degas” frequency rank
#42,274
“degli” frequency rank
82016
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degas degli
Definition Enlever le gaz de. Article contracté souvent traduit par des. Note d’usage : il s’emploie alternativement à dei devant les consonnes impures : s, gn, pn, ps, x, z.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set degas and degli apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
degas
5 ch
degli

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: degas is \ˈde.ɡaz\ while degli is \ˈdeʎ.ʎi\. 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 (verb vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degas is recorded at frequency rank #39,742, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈde.ɡaz\. degli is at rank #42,274, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \ˈdeʎ.ʎi\.

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 82016, this pair ranks #17,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of degas vs degli

Shared letters: deg. Private to "degas": as. Private to "degli": il.

"degas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "degli" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degasddegas · deags · degass · deggas · degsa · dgeas · edgas
  • degliddegli · deggli · degil · deglli · delgi · dgeli · edgli

Frequency comparison

degas#39,742
degli#42,274

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degas" and "degli" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "degas" is a verb and "degli" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "degas" or "degli"?
"degas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,742 in our French list, against #42,274 for "degli". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering degas vs degli

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “degas”; for an article, it's “degli”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “degas” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list