demvsdyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dem is a noun, dy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#16,107
“dem” frequency rank
#45,564
“dy” frequency rank
61671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dem dy
Definition démonstration d’un produit pour en faire la promotion. Deux.

Letter map: dem vs dy

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

3 ch
dem
2 ch
dy

Part-of-speech tell for dem / dy

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dem is anoun and dyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dem is recorded at frequency rank #16,107, classified as anoun. dy is at rank #45,564, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.

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 61671, this pair ranks #91,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dem vs dy

Shared letters: d. Private to "dem": em. Private to "dy": y.

"dem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dy" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dem" for "dy" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dem" is a noun and "dy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dem" or "dy"?
"dem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,107 in our French list, against #45,564 for "dy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dem" and "dy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs dy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #91,069 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