dengvsdeuWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#42,277
“deng” frequency rank
#36,794
“deu” frequency rank
79071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deng deu
Definition Ta, la tienne. Dieu.

Letter map: deng vs deu

Shared letters muted; letters that set deng and deu apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
deng
3 ch
deu

Role in the sentence - deng and deu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deng is apronoun and deuanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79071, 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\. deu is at rank #36,794, tagged as anoun.

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 79071, this pair ranks #24,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deng vs deu

Shared letters: de. Private to "deng": gn. Private to "deu": u.

"deng" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "deu" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deng" and "deu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deng" is a pronoun and "deu" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "deng" vs "deu" - which ranks higher?
"deu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,794 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.

What to do next

Pair "deng" vs "deu" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deng" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deng" and "deu" 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 #24,132 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