Which to use
“degré” and “demie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,871
- “degré” frequency rank
- #6,492
- “demie” frequency rank
- 9363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | degré | demie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace compris entre deux marches d’un escalier. | Demi-heure. Note d’usage : On dit de une heure et demie à onze heures et demie, mais rarement les autres (sinon midi, ou minuit, et demi, qui ne sont plus de la même forme). |
Where the eye mixes degré and demie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: degré vs demie
A purely visual mix-up. degré (\də.ɡʁe\) and demie (\də.mi\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
degré is recorded at frequency rank #2,871, classified as anoun, pronounced \də.ɡʁe\. demie is at rank #6,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.mi\.
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 9363, this pair ranks #416,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of degré vs demie
Shared letters: de. Private to "degré": gré. Private to "demie": im.
"degré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- demie ← ddemie · deime · demei · demmie · dmeie · edmie
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "degré" and "demie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "degré" vs "demie" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "degré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "degré" and "demie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs demie". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #416,925 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.