Which to use
“demander” and “dépanner” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #602
- “demander” frequency rank
- #25,629
- “dépanner” frequency rank
- 26231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demander | dépanner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Indiquer à quelqu’un par des paroles, par un écrit ou tout autre moyen ce qu’on désire obtenir de lui. | Remettre en état de fonctionnement un appareil, un véhicule, etc. |
Where the eye mixes demander and dépanner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. demander and dépanner follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: demander vs dépanner
A purely visual mix-up. demander (\də.mɑ̃.de\) and dépanner (\de.pa.ne\) 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 26231, 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\. dépanner is at rank #25,629, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pa.ne\.
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 26231, this pair ranks #336,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demander vs dépanner
Shared letters: adenr. Private to "demander": m. Private to "dépanner": pé.
"demander" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dépanner" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demander ← ddemander · deamnder · demadner · demandder · demanderr · demandre · demanedr · demannder
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "demander" and "dépanner" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "demander" or "dépanner"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "demander" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépanner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demander" and "dépanner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépanner vs dépanneurs". 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 #336,332 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.