démonsvsdémuniWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,817
“démons” frequency rank
#42,304
“démuni” frequency rank
50121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature démons démuni
Definition Pluriel de démon. Qui est privé de ressources de quelque genre que ce soit.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
démons
6 ch
démuni

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démons is \de.mɔ̃\ while démuni is \de.my.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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

démons is recorded at frequency rank #7,817, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.mɔ̃\. démuni is at rank #42,304, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.my.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 50121, this pair ranks #165,159 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of démons vs démuni

Shared letters: dmné. Private to "démons": os. Private to "démuni": iu.

"démons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "démuni" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

démons#7,817
démuni#42,304

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "démons" and "démuni" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "démons" is a noun and "démuni" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "démons" or "démuni"?
"démons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,817 in our French list, against #42,304 for "démuni". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering démons vs démuni

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “démons”; for an adjective, it's “démuni”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “démons” 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