Which to use
“démarrer” and “demeurer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,954
- “démarrer” frequency rank
- #10,483
- “demeurer” frequency rank
- 18437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démarrer | demeurer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quitter le port en parlant d’un bâtiment. | S’arrêter assez longtemps en un lieu. — Note d’usage : Conjugué avec l’auxiliaire être. |
Where the eye mixes démarrer and demeurer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. démarrer (CVCVCCVC) and demeurer (CVCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between démarrer and demeurer
A purely visual mix-up. démarrer (\de.ma.ʁe\) and demeurer (\də.mœ.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 18437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
démarrer is recorded at frequency rank #7,954, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ma.ʁe\. demeurer is at rank #10,483, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.mœ.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 18437, this pair ranks #378,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of démarrer vs demeurer
Shared letters: demr. Private to "démarrer": aé. Private to "demeurer": u.
"démarrer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "demeurer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demeurer ← ddemeurer · deemurer · demeruer · demeuerr · demeurerr · demeurrer · demmeurer · demuerer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "démarrer" for "demeurer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "démarrer" vs "demeurer" - 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 "démarrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demeurer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démarrer" and "demeurer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demeurer vs déterrer". 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 #378,325 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.