Which to use
“degré” and “derme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,871
- “degré” frequency rank
- #46,692
- “derme” frequency rank
- 49563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | degré | derme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace compris entre deux marches d’un escalier. | Tissu qui forme la partie la plus épaisse de la peau entre l’épiderme et l'hypoderme. |
Where the eye mixes degré and derme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. degré and derme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses degré with derme
A purely visual mix-up. degré (\də.ɡʁe\) and derme (\dɛʁm\) 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 49563, 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\. derme is at rank #46,692, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛʁm\.
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 49563, this pair ranks #169,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of degré vs derme
Shared letters: der. Private to "degré": gé. Private to "derme": m.
"degré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "derme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- derme ← dderme · demre · derem · dermme · derrme · dreme · edrme
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "degré" and "derme" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "degré" or "derme"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "degré" and "derme" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "degré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "derme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "degré" and "derme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs derme". 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 #169,611 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.