œdèmevsdevezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: œdème is a noun, devez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“œdème” is a noun and “devez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,835
“œdème” frequency rank
#2,569
“devez” frequency rank
37404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature œdème devez
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. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de devoir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set œdème and devez apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
œdème
5 ch
devez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: œdème is \e.dɛm\ while devez is \də.ve\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 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 37404, 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\. devez is at rank #2,569, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.ve\.

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 37404, this pair ranks #262,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of œdème vs devez

Shared letters: de. Private to "œdème": mèœ. Private to "devez": vz.

"œdème" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "devez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devezddevez · deevz · devezz · devvez · devze · dveez · edvez

Frequency comparison

œdème#34,835
devez#2,569

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "œdème" and "devez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "œdème" is a noun and "devez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "œdème" or "devez"?
"devez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,569 in our French list, against #34,835 for "œdème". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering œdème vs devez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “œdème”; for a verb, it's “devez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “œdème” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list