Which to use
“démêlés” is an adjective and “Demers” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,137
- “démêlés” frequency rank
- #42,818
- “Demers” frequency rank
- 72955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démêlés | Demers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de démêlé. | Nom de famille. |
Where the eye mixes démêlés and Demers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. démêlés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against Demers's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between démêlés and Demers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démêlés is \de.me.le\ while Demers is \də.mɛʁs\. 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 (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
démêlés is recorded at frequency rank #30,137, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.me.le\. Demers is at rank #42,818, tagged as aname, pronounced \də.mɛʁs\.
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 72955, this pair ranks #42,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of démêlés vs Demers
Shared letters: dms. Private to "démêlés": léê. Private to "Demers": er.
"démêlés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "Demers" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Demers ← ddemers · deemrs · demerrs · demerss · demesr · demmers · demres · dmeers
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "démêlés" for "Demers" ever safe?
Which is more common, "démêlés" or "Demers"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "démêlés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Demers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,215 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démêlés" and "Demers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Delors vs Demers". 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 #42,215 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.