deirvsdépTell them apart

Quick tell: deir is a adjective, dép is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deir” is an adjective and “dép” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,242
“deir” frequency rank
#41,754
“dép” frequency rank
79996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deir dép
Definition Forme mutée de teir par adoucissement (t → d). Dépanneur.

Where the eye mixes deir and dép

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. deir runs 4 letters (CVVC) against dép's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
deir
3 ch
dép

Look-alike desk: deir vs dép

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deir is \dɛjr\ while dép is \dɛp\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deir is recorded at frequency rank #38,242, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɛjr\. dép is at rank #41,754, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛp\.

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 79996, this pair ranks #21,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deir vs dép

Shared letters: d. Private to "deir": eir. Private to "dép": pé.

"deir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "dép" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deir ← ddeir · deirr · deri · edir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deir" and "dép" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deir" is an adjective and "dép" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deir" or "dép"?
"deir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,242 in our French list, against #41,754 for "dép". 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 "deir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dép" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deir" and "dép" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dép". 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 #21,983 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