Which to use
“demand” is a noun and “depend” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,208
- “demand” frequency rank
- #26,692
- “depend” frequency rank
- 66900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demand | depend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Revendication. | (Suivi de on ou de upon, et plus anciennement de of) Dépendre (de). |
Where the eye mixes demand and depend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between demand and depend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demand is \dɪˈ.mɑːnd\ while depend is \dɪˈpɛnd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demand is recorded at frequency rank #40,208, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɪˈ.mɑːnd\. depend is at rank #26,692, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɪˈpɛnd\.
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 66900, this pair ranks #65,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of demand vs depend
Shared letters: den. Private to "demand": am. Private to "depend": p.
"demand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "demand" for "depend" ever safe?
Frequency check: "demand" vs "depend" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "demand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,800 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demand" and "depend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demand vs démuni". 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 #65,800 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.