Which to use
“dégradée” is an adjective and “dégrader” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,948
- “dégradée” frequency rank
- #17,686
- “dégrader” frequency rank
- 42634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégradée | dégrader |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de dégradé. | Dépouiller, destituer quelqu’un d’une manière infamante de son grade, de sa dignité, de son emploi, etc. |
Same sound, different letters: dégradée vs dégrader
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dégradée (CVCCVCVV) and dégrader (CVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: dégradée vs dégrader
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dégradée and dégrader carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ɡʁa.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégradée is recorded at frequency rank #24,948, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ɡʁa.de\. dégrader is at rank #17,686, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ɡʁa.de\.
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 42634, this pair ranks #224,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégradée vs dégrader
Shared letters: adegré. Private to "dégradée": -. Private to "dégrader": -.
"dégradée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "dégrader" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dégradée" for "dégrader" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dégradée" vs "dégrader" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "dégradée" / "dégrader". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégradée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dégrader" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #224,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégradée" and "dégrader" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débridée vs dégradée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #224,133 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.