Which to use
“démoli” is a verb and “désolé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,297
- “démoli” frequency rank
- #1,390
- “désolé” frequency rank
- 22687
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | démoli | désolé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de démolir. | Désert ; ravagé ; triste. |
Where the eye mixes démoli and désolé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between démoli and désolé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démoli is \de.mɔ.li\ while désolé is \de.zɔ.le\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
démoli is recorded at frequency rank #21,297, classified as averb, pronounced \de.mɔ.li\. désolé is at rank #1,390, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.zɔ.le\.
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 22687, this pair ranks #356,658 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of démoli vs désolé
Shared letters: dloé. Private to "démoli": im. Private to "désolé": s.
"démoli" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "désolé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "démoli" for "désolé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "démoli" or "désolé"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "démoli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désolé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,658 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "démoli" and "désolé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démoli vs démolit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #356,658 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.