dégueuvsdénuésTell them apart

Which to use

“dégueu” and “dénués” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,603
“dégueu” frequency rank
#42,844
“dénués” frequency rank
59447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégueu dénués
Definition Dégueulasse ; sale ; répugnant. Masculin pluriel de dénué.

Where the eye mixes dégueu and dénués

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dégueu (CVCVVV) and dénués (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
dégueu
6 ch
dénués

Why the eye confuses dégueu with dénués

A purely visual mix-up. dégueu (\de.ɡø\) and dénués (\de.nɥe\) 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 59447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dégueu is recorded at frequency rank #16,603, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ɡø\. dénués is at rank #42,844, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.nɥe\.

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 59447, this pair ranks #103,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dégueu vs dénués

Shared letters: dué. Private to "dégueu": eg. Private to "dénués": ns.

"dégueu" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "dénués" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dégueu" for "dénués" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.ɡø\ versus \de.nɥe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dégueu" or "dénués"?
"dégueu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,603 in our French list, against #42,844 for "dénués". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dégueu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dénués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #103,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dégueu" and "dénués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déçues vs dénués". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #103,078 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list