démontervsdérouterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“démonter” and “dérouter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,365
“démonter” frequency rank
#46,729
“dérouter” frequency rank
60094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature démonter dérouter
Definition Arrêter le mouvement d’un mécanisme, qui a ensuite besoin d’être remonté. Égarer quelqu’un de sa route.

Where the eye mixes démonter and dérouter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. démonter (CVCVCCVC) and dérouter (CVCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
démonter
8 ch
dérouter

Look-alike desk: démonter vs dérouter

A purely visual mix-up. démonter (\de.mɔ̃.te\) and dérouter (\de.ʁu.te\) 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 60094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

démonter is recorded at frequency rank #13,365, classified as averb, pronounced \de.mɔ̃.te\. dérouter is at rank #46,729, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁu.te\.

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 60094, this pair ranks #99,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of démonter vs dérouter

Shared letters: deorté. Private to "démonter": mn. Private to "dérouter": u.

"démonter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "dérouter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "démonter" and "dérouter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.mɔ̃.te\ versus \de.ʁu.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "démonter" vs "dérouter" - which ranks higher?
"démonter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,365 in our French list, against #46,729 for "dérouter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "démonter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dérouter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "démonter" and "dérouter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débouté vs dérouter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #99,489 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