dengvsdépWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: deng is a pronoun, dép is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deng” is a pronoun and “dép” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,277
“deng” frequency rank
#41,754
“dép” frequency rank
84031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deng dép
Definition Ta, la tienne. Dépanneur.

Where the eye mixes deng and dép

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
deng
3 ch
dép

Why the eye confuses deng with dép

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deng is \dˈeŋ\ while dép is \dɛp\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84031, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deng is recorded at frequency rank #42,277, classified as apron, pronounced \dˈeŋ\. dép is at rank #41,754, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛp\.

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 84031, this pair ranks #13,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deng vs dép

Shared letters: d. Private to "deng": egn. Private to "dép": .

"deng" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dép" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dengddeng · degn · dengg · denng · dneg · edng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deng" and "dép" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deng" is a pronoun and "dép" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deng" or "dép"?
"dép" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,754 in our French list, against #42,277 for "deng". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "deng" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dép" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deng" and "dép" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deng 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 #13,708 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