Which to use
“dément” is an adjective and “démentir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,364
- “dément” frequency rank
- #27,415
- “démentir” frequency rank
- 40779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dément | démentir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est dans l’état de démence. | Contredire quelqu’un en niant la véracité de ce qu’il a affirmé. |
Where the eye mixes dément and démentir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dément runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against démentir's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dément with démentir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dément is \de.mɑ̃\ while démentir is \de.mɑ̃.tiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dément” sits inside “démentir”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dément is recorded at frequency rank #13,364, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.mɑ̃\. démentir is at rank #27,415, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.mɑ̃.tiʁ\.
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 40779, this pair ranks #237,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dément vs démentir
Shared letters: demnté. Private to "dément": -. Private to "démentir": ir.
"dément" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "démentir" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dément" and "démentir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dément" vs "démentir" - which ranks higher?
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 "dément" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "démentir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dément" and "démentir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démentir vs démentis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #237,953 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.