demisvsDenysWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#35,459
“demis” frequency rank
#19,504
“Denys” frequency rank
54963
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demis Denys
Definition Masculin pluriel de demi. Prénom masculin.

Where the eye mixes demis and Denys

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. demis and Denys follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
demis
5 ch
Denys

Why the eye confuses demis with Denys

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demis is \də.mi\ while Denys is \də.ni\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54963, 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\. Denys is at rank #19,504, tagged as aname, pronounced \də.ni\.

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 54963, this pair ranks #130,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of demis vs Denys

Shared letters: des. Private to "demis": im. Private to "Denys": ny.

"demis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Denys" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demis ← ddemis · deims · demiss · demmis · demsi · dmeis · edmis
  • Denys ← ddenys · dennys · densy · denyss · denyys · deyns · dneys · ednys

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demis" and "Denys" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demis" is an adjective and "Denys" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "demis" vs "Denys" - which ranks higher?
"Denys" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,504 in our French list, against #35,459 for "demis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "demis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Denys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,515 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demis" and "Denys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demis vs denim". 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 #130,515 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list