déjàvsderWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#122
“déjà” frequency rank
#3,909
“der” frequency rank
4031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déjà der
Definition Indique un changement d’état ou une atteinte du critère jusqu’à présent ou jusqu’alors. Dernier, dernière ou dernière fois.

Where the eye mixes déjà and der

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
déjà
3 ch
der

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déjà is \de.ʒa\ while der is \dɛʁ\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4031, 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\. der is at rank #3,909, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛʁ\.

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 4031, this pair ranks #432,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of déjà vs der

Shared letters: d. Private to "déjà": jàé. Private to "der": er.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déjà" and "der" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déjà" is an adverb and "der" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "déjà" or "der"?
"déjà" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #122 in our French list, against #3,909 for "der". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "déjà" and "der". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déjà" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "der" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #432,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déjà" and "der" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs der". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list