Which to use
“dégât” and “dégel” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,555
- “dégât” frequency rank
- #34,070
- “dégel” frequency rank
- 58625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégât | dégel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dommage, détérioration amenés par un accident ou une cause violente. | Fonte naturelle de la glace et de la neige par l’adoucissement de la température, qui remonte au-dessus de zéro degrés Celsius. |
Where the eye mixes dégât and dégel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dégât and dégel follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses dégât with dégel
A purely visual mix-up. dégât (\de.ɡa\) and dégel (\de.ʒɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégât is recorded at frequency rank #24,555, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ɡa\. dégel is at rank #34,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ʒɛl\.
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 58625, this pair ranks #107,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dégât vs dégel
Shared letters: dgé. Private to "dégât": tâ. Private to "dégel": el.
"dégât" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dégel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dégât" and "dégel" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dégât" vs "dégel" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégât" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dégel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégât" and "dégel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèle vs dégel". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #107,919 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.