demisvsdémolisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: demis is a adjective, démolis is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“demis” is an adjective and “démolis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,459
“demis” frequency rank
#35,912
“démolis” frequency rank
71371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demis démolis
Definition Masculin pluriel de demi. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de démolir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set demis and démolis apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
demis
7 ch
démolis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demis is \də.mi\ while démolis is \de.mɔ.li\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demis is recorded at frequency rank #35,459, classified as anadj, pronounced \də.mi\. démolis is at rank #35,912, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.mɔ.li\.

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 71371, this pair ranks #47,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of demis vs démolis

Shared letters: dims. Private to "demis": e. Private to "démolis": loé.

"demis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "démolis" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demisddemis · deims · demiss · demmis · demsi · dmeis · edmis

Frequency comparison

demis#35,459
démolis#35,912

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demis" and "démolis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demis" is an adjective and "démolis" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "demis" or "démolis"?
"demis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,459 in our French list, against #35,912 for "démolis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering demis vs démolis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “demis”; for a verb, it's “démolis”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “demis” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list