démos vs des, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“démos” is a noun and “des” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,767
“démos” frequency rank: #10
“des” frequency rank: 38777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	démos	des
Definition	Pluriel de démo.	Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set démos and des apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

démos

3 ch

des

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: démos is \de.mo\ while des is \de\. 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 (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

démos is recorded at frequency rank #38,767, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.mo\. des is at rank #10, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \de\.

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 38777, this pair ranks #252,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of démos vs des

Shared letters: ds. Private to "démos": moé. Private to "des": e.

"démos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "des" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

démos#38,767

des#10

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "démos" and "des" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "démos" is a noun and "des" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "démos" or "des"?

"des" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our French list, against #38,767 for "démos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering démos vs des

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “démos”; for an article, it's “des”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “démos” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable