deniervsdeviezTell them apart

Quick tell: denier is a noun, deviez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“denier” is a noun and “deviez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,056
“denier” frequency rank
#25,966
“deviez” frequency rank
60022
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denier deviez
Definition Monnaie romaine d’argent qui, jusqu’à l’an 536 de Rome, valait dix as et plus tard seize. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de devoir.

Where the eye mixes denier and deviez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
denier
6 ch
deviez

Look-alike desk: denier vs deviez

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denier is \də.nje\ while deviez is \də.vje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denier is recorded at frequency rank #34,056, classified as anoun, pronounced \də.nje\. deviez is at rank #25,966, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vje\.

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 60022, this pair ranks #99,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of denier vs deviez

Shared letters: dei. Private to "denier": nr. Private to "deviez": vz.

"denier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "deviez" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denierddenier · deiner · deneir · denierr · denire · dennier · dneier · ednier
  • deviezddeviez · deivez · deveiz · deviezz · devize · devviez · dveiez · edviez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "denier" for "deviez" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denier" is a noun and "deviez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denier" or "deviez"?
"deviez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,966 in our French list, against #34,056 for "denier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "denier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deviez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denier" and "deviez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denier 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 #99,882 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