dégustationvsdévastationWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,361
“dégustation” frequency rank
#35,486
“dévastation” frequency rank
48847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dégustation dévastation
Definition Action de déguster. Action de dévaster ou résultat de cette action.

Where the eye mixes dégustation and dévastation

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

11 ch
dégustation
11 ch
dévastation

Why the eye confuses dégustation with dévastation

A purely visual mix-up. dégustation (\de.ɡys.ta.sjɔ̃\) and dévastation (\de.vas.ta.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dégustation is recorded at frequency rank #13,361, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ɡys.ta.sjɔ̃\. dévastation is at rank #35,486, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.vas.ta.sjɔ̃\.

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 48847, this pair ranks #175,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dégustation vs dévastation

Shared letters: adinosté. Private to "dégustation": gu. Private to "dévastation": v.

"dégustation" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC  ·  "dévastation" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dégustation" and "dévastation" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ɡys.ta.sjɔ̃\ versus \de.vas.ta.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dégustation" vs "dévastation" - which ranks higher?
"dégustation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,361 in our French list, against #35,486 for "dévastation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "dégustation" and "dévastation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dégustation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévastation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #175,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dégustation" and "dévastation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévaluation vs dévastation". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #175,575 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