Which to use
“demie” and “dette” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,492
- “demie” frequency rank
- #2,469
- “dette” frequency rank
- 8961
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demie | dette |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Somme due à un créancier. |
Where the eye mixes demie and dette
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses demie with dette
A purely visual mix-up. demie (\də.mi\) and dette (\dɛt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8961, 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\. dette is at rank #2,469, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛt\.
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 8961, this pair ranks #418,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demie vs dette
Shared letters: de. Private to "demie": im. Private to "dette": t.
"demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "demie" and "dette" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "demie" or "dette"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "demie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demie" and "dette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs demie". 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 #418,267 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.