Which to use
“département” and “dépassement” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,136
- “département” frequency rank
- #12,557
- “dépassement” frequency rank
- 13693
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | département | dépassement |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des parties des affaires d’État, distribuées entre les ministres et dont la connaissance leur est attribuée. | Action de dépasser et spécialement d’outrepasser. |
Where the eye mixes département and dépassement
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. département and dépassement follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: département vs dépassement
A purely visual mix-up. département (\de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\) and dépassement (\de.pas.mɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
département is recorded at frequency rank #1,136, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\. dépassement is at rank #12,557, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.pas.mɑ̃\.
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 13693, this pair ranks #399,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of département vs dépassement
Shared letters: ademnpté. Private to "département": r. Private to "dépassement": s.
"département" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC · "dépassement" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "département" for "dépassement" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "département" or "dépassement" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "département" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "département" and "dépassement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassaient vs dépassement". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #399,937 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.