Which to use
“demander” and “démarrer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #602
- “demander” frequency rank
- #7,954
- “démarrer” frequency rank
- 8556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demander | démarrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Indiquer à quelqu’un par des paroles, par un écrit ou tout autre moyen ce qu’on désire obtenir de lui. | Quitter le port en parlant d’un bâtiment. |
Where the eye mixes demander and démarrer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. demander and démarrer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between demander and démarrer
A purely visual mix-up. demander (\də.mɑ̃.de\) and démarrer (\de.ma.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demander is recorded at frequency rank #602, classified as averb, pronounced \də.mɑ̃.de\. démarrer is at rank #7,954, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ma.ʁe\.
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 8556, this pair ranks #419,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demander vs démarrer
Shared letters: ademr. Private to "demander": n. Private to "démarrer": é.
"demander" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "démarrer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demander ← ddemander · deamnder · demadner · demandder · demanderr · demandre · demanedr · demannder
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "demander" and "démarrer" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "demander" or "démarrer" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "demander" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "démarrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demander" and "démarrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demander vs demanderez". 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 #419,624 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.