demievsdemiesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: demie is a noun, demies is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,492
“demie” frequency rank
#42,819
“demies” frequency rank
49311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demie demies
Definition Demi-heure. Note d’usage : On dit de une heure et demie à onze heures et demie, mais rarement les autres (sinon midi, ou minuit, et demi, qui ne sont plus de la même forme). Féminin pluriel de demi.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set demie and demies apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
demie
6 ch
demies

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: demie and demies carry the same recorded pronunciation, \də.mi\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “demie” sits inside “demies”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demie is recorded at frequency rank #6,492, classified as anoun, pronounced \də.mi\. 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 49311, this pair ranks #171,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of demie vs demies

Shared letters: deim. Private to "demie": -. Private to "demies": s.

"demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "demies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demieddemie · deime · demei · demmie · dmeie · edmie
  • demiesddemies · deimes · demeis · demiess · demise · demmies · dmeies · edmies

Frequency comparison

demie#6,492
demies#42,819

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demie" and "demies" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demie" is a noun and "demies" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "demie" or "demies"?
"demie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,492 in our French list, against #42,819 for "demies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering demie vs demies

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list