démesurée vs demeure, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“démesurée” is an adjective and “demeure” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,142
“démesurée” frequency rank: #1,991
“demeure” frequency rank: 30133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	démesurée	demeure
Definition	Féminin singulier de démesuré.	Habitation, domicile.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set démesurée and demeure apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

démesurée

7 ch

demeure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démesurée is \de.mə.zy.ʁe\ while demeure is \də.mœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

démesurée is recorded at frequency rank #28,142, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.mə.zy.ʁe\. demeure is at rank #1,991, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.mœʁ\.

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 30133, this pair ranks #312,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of démesurée vs demeure

Shared letters: demru. Private to "démesurée": sé. Private to "demeure": -.

"démesurée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV · "demeure" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

demeure ← ddemeure · deemure · demerue · demeuer · demeurre · demmeure · demuere · dmeeure

Frequency comparison

démesurée#28,142

demeure#1,991

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "démesurée" and "demeure" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "démesurée" is an adjective and "demeure" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "démesurée" or "demeure"?

"demeure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,991 in our French list, against #28,142 for "démesurée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering démesurée vs demeure

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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