dénigre vs dernière, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#40,731
“dénigre” frequency rank: #353
“dernière” frequency rank: 41084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dénigre	dernière
Definition	Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dénigrer.	Femme qui arrive après tous les autres.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dénigre and dernière apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

dénigre

8 ch

dernière

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dénigre is \de.niɡʁ\ while dernière is \dɛʁ.njɛʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dénigre is recorded at frequency rank #40,731, classified as averb, pronounced \de.niɡʁ\. dernière is at rank #353, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛʁ.njɛʁ\.

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 41084, this pair ranks #235,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dénigre vs dernière

Shared letters: deinr. Private to "dénigre": gé. Private to "dernière": è.

"dénigre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dernière" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Frequency comparison

dénigre#40,731

dernière#353

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dénigre" and "dernière" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dénigre" is a verb and "dernière" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dénigre" or "dernière"?

"dernière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #353 in our French list, against #40,731 for "dénigre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering dénigre vs dernière

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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