Which to use
“dép” is a noun and “déplu” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,754
- “dép” frequency rank
- #35,002
- “déplu” frequency rank
- 76756
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dép | déplu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dépanneur. | Participe passé masculin singulier de déplaire. |
Where the eye mixes dép and déplu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dép runs 3 letters (CVC) against déplu's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dép with déplu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dép is \dɛp\ while déplu is \de.ply\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dép” sits inside “déplu”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dép is recorded at frequency rank #41,754, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛp\. déplu is at rank #35,002, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ply\.
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 76756, this pair ranks #30,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dép vs déplu
Shared letters: dpé. Private to "dép": -. Private to "déplu": lu.
"dép" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "déplu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dép" and "déplu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dép" or "déplu" show up more?
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 "dép" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déplu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dép" and "déplu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs dép". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #30,247 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.