dentsvsdevantsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,313
“dents” frequency rank
#23,169
“devants” frequency rank
25482
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dents devants
Definition Pluriel de dent. Pluriel de devant.

Where the eye mixes dents and devants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dents
7 ch
devants

Visual trap between dents and devants

A purely visual mix-up. dents (\dɑ̃\) and devants (\də.vɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dents is recorded at frequency rank #2,313, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃\. devants is at rank #23,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vɑ̃\.

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 25482, this pair ranks #340,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dents vs devants

Shared letters: denst. Private to "dents": -. Private to "devants": av.

"dents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "devants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dentsddents · dennts · denst · dentss · dentts · detns · dnets · ednts
  • devantsddevants · deavnts · devannts · devanst · devantss · devantts · devatns · devnats

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dents" and "devants" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɑ̃\ versus \də.vɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dents" vs "devants" - which ranks higher?
"dents" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,313 in our French list, against #23,169 for "devants". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dents" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #340,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dents" and "devants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devants vs déviants". 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 #340,602 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