dénivsderWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,206
“déni” frequency rank
#3,909
“der” frequency rank
15115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déni der
Definition Action de dénier un fait. Dernier, dernière ou dernière fois.

Where the eye mixes déni and der

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. déni runs 4 letters (CVCV) against der's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
déni
3 ch
der

Visual trap between déni and der

A purely visual mix-up. déni (\de.ni\) and der (\dɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déni is recorded at frequency rank #11,206, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ni\. der is at rank #3,909, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛʁ\.

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 15115, this pair ranks #393,791 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of déni vs der

Shared letters: d. Private to "déni": iné. Private to "der": er.

"déni" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "der" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déni" and "der" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ni\ versus \dɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déni" or "der"?
"der" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,909 in our French list, against #11,206 for "déni". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déni" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "der" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #393,791 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déni" and "der" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déni vs denim". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #393,791 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