degasvsdevaisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,742
“degas” frequency rank
#3,910
“devais” frequency rank
43652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degas devais
Definition Enlever le gaz de. Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set degas and devais apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
degas
6 ch
devais

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. degas (\ˈde.ɡaz\) and devais (\də.vɛ\) 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 43652, 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\. devais is at rank #3,910, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\.

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 43652, this pair ranks #216,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of degas vs devais

Shared letters: ades. Private to "degas": g. Private to "devais": iv.

"degas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "devais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degasddegas · deags · degass · deggas · degsa · dgeas · edgas
  • devaisddevais · deavis · devaiss · devasi · devias · devvais · dveais · edvais

Frequency comparison

degas#39,742
devais#3,910

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "degas" and "devais" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈde.ɡaz\ versus \də.vɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "degas" or "devais"?
"devais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,910 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 devais

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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