Which to use
“degré” and “digue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,871
- “degré” frequency rank
- #18,169
- “digue” frequency rank
- 21040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | degré | digue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace compris entre deux marches d’un escalier. | Levée de terre, de pierres, de bois, etc. pour contenir des eaux d’un fleuve, d’un torrent, d’un lac, et contrer les flots de la mer. |
Where the eye mixes degré and digue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses degré with digue
A purely visual mix-up. degré (\də.ɡʁe\) and digue (\diɡ\) 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 21040, 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\. digue is at rank #18,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \diɡ\.
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 21040, this pair ranks #365,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of degré vs digue
Shared letters: deg. Private to "degré": ré. Private to "digue": iu.
"degré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "digue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- digue ← ddigue · dgiue · digeu · diggue · diuge · idgue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "degré" for "digue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "degré" vs "digue" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "digue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "degré" and "digue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digue vs diode". 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 #365,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.