Which to use
“démentir” is a verb and “démentis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,415
- “démentir” frequency rank
- #43,398
- “démentis” frequency rank
- 70813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démentir | démentis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contredire quelqu’un en niant la véracité de ce qu’il a affirmé. | Masculin pluriel de démenti. |
Where the eye mixes démentir and démentis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. démentir and démentis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses démentir with démentis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démentir is \de.mɑ̃.tiʁ\ while démentis is \de.mɑ̃.ti\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “démentir” becomes s in “démentis”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
démentir is recorded at frequency rank #27,415, classified as averb, pronounced \de.mɑ̃.tiʁ\. démentis is at rank #43,398, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.mɑ̃.ti\.
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 70813, this pair ranks #49,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of démentir vs démentis
Shared letters: deimnté. Private to "démentir": r. Private to "démentis": s.
"démentir" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "démentis" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "démentir" for "démentis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "démentir" or "démentis"?
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 "démentir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "démentis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démentir" and "démentis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décents vs démentis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #49,899 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.