déjàvsdemConfusable pair

Quick tell: déjà is a adverb, dem is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“déjà” is an adverb and “dem” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#122
“déjà” frequency rank
#16,107
“dem” frequency rank
16229
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déjà dem
Definition Indique un changement d’état ou une atteinte du critère jusqu’à présent ou jusqu’alors. démonstration d’un produit pour en faire la promotion.

Letter map: déjà vs dem

Shared letters muted; letters that set déjà and dem apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

4 ch
déjà
3 ch
dem

Part-of-speech tell for déjà / dem

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: déjà is anadverb and demanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déjà is recorded at frequency rank #122, classified as anadv, pronounced \de.ʒa\. dem is at rank #16,107, tagged as anoun.

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 16229, this pair ranks #388,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of déjà vs dem

Shared letters: d. Private to "déjà": jàé. Private to "dem": em.

"déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dem" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déjà" and "dem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déjà" is an adverb and "dem" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "déjà" or "dem" show up more?
"déjà" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #122 in our French list, against #16,107 for "dem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "déjà" vs "dem" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déjà" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déjà" and "dem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dem vs denim". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #388,794 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