Which to use
“œdème” is a noun and “démodé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,835
- “œdème” frequency rank
- #34,998
- “démodé” frequency rank
- 69833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | œdème | démodé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enflure non douloureuse, qui est produite par une infiltration séreuse dans les tissus et qui se distingue des autres enflures parce qu’elle garde quelque temps l’impression des doigts. | Qui a cessé d’être à la mode. |
Where the eye mixes œdème and démodé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. œdème runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against démodé's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses œdème with démodé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: œdème is \e.dɛm\ while démodé is \de.mɔ.de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
œdème is recorded at frequency rank #34,835, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.dɛm\. démodé is at rank #34,998, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.mɔ.de\.
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 69833, this pair ranks #53,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of œdème vs démodé
Shared letters: dm. Private to "œdème": eèœ. Private to "démodé": oé.
"œdème" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "démodé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "œdème" for "démodé" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "œdème" or "démodé" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "œdème" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "démodé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "œdème" and "démodé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs œdème". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #53,632 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.