Which to use
“démêlés” and “demies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,137
- “démêlés” frequency rank
- #42,819
- “demies” frequency rank
- 72956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démêlés | demies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de démêlé. | Féminin pluriel de demi. |
Where the eye mixes démêlés and demies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. démêlés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against demies's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses démêlés with demies
A purely visual mix-up. démêlés (\de.me.le\) and demies (\də.mi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72956, 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\. demies is at rank #42,819, tagged as anadj, pronounced \də.mi\.
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 72956, this pair ranks #42,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of démêlés vs demies
Shared letters: dms. Private to "démêlés": léê. Private to "demies": ei.
"démêlés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "demies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demies ← ddemies · deimes · demeis · demiess · demise · demmies · dmeies · edmies
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "démêlés" and "demies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "démêlés" or "demies"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "démêlés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démêlés" and "demies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demies vs devins". 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 #42,209 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.