degasvsdentsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: degas is a verb, dents is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,742
“degas” frequency rank
#2,313
“dents” frequency rank
42055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degas dents
Definition Enlever le gaz de. Pluriel de dent.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
degas
5 ch
dents

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: degas is \ˈde.ɡaz\ while dents is \dɑ̃\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42055, 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\. dents is at rank #2,313, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃\.

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 42055, this pair ranks #228,552 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of degas vs dents

Shared letters: des. Private to "degas": ag. Private to "dents": nt.

"degas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "dents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degasddegas · deags · degass · deggas · degsa · dgeas · edgas
  • dentsddents · dennts · denst · dentss · dentts · detns · dnets · ednts

Frequency comparison

degas#39,742
dents#2,313

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degas" and "dents" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "degas" is a verb and "dents" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "degas" or "dents"?
"dents" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,313 in our French list, against #39,742 for "degas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering degas vs dents

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “degas”; for a noun, it's “dents”.
  • 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