Which to use
“dent” and “der” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,965
- “dent” frequency rank
- #3,909
- “der” frequency rank
- 9874
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dent | der |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit organe composé d’émail, de dentine et d’une pulpe, enchâssés dans la mâchoire, qui sert à inciser, à déchirer, à mâcher les aliments et à mordre. | Dernier, dernière ou dernière fois. |
Where the eye mixes dent and der
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dent and der
A purely visual mix-up. dent (\dɑ̃\) 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 9874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dent is recorded at frequency rank #5,965, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃\. 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 9874, this pair ranks #415,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dent vs der
Shared letters: de. Private to "dent": nt. Private to "der": r.
"dent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "der" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dent ← ddent · dennt · dentt · detn · dnet · ednt
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dent" for "der" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dent" vs "der" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dent" 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 #415,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dent" and "der" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs dent". 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 #415,089 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.