Which to use
“déjà” is an adverb and “des” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #122
- “déjà” frequency rank
- #10
- “des” frequency rank
- 132
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | déjà | des |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Indique un changement d’état ou une atteinte du critère jusqu’à présent ou jusqu’alors. | Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une. |
Where the eye mixes déjà and des
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déjà is \de.ʒa\ while des is \de\. 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 article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 132, 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\. des is at rank #10, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \de\.
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 132, this pair ranks #440,070 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of déjà vs des
Shared letters: d. Private to "déjà": jàé. Private to "des": es.
"déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "des" · 3 letters · shape CVC