Which to use
“dépassée” and “dévastée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,606
- “dépassée” frequency rank
- #24,203
- “dévastée” frequency rank
- 40809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassée | dévastée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de dépassé. | Féminin singulier de dévasté. |
Where the eye mixes dépassée and dévastée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dépassée and dévastée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses dépassée with dévastée
A purely visual mix-up. dépassée (\de.pa.se\) and dévastée (\de.vas.te\) 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 40809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassée is recorded at frequency rank #16,606, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.pa.se\. dévastée is at rank #24,203, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.vas.te\.
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 40809, this pair ranks #237,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépassée vs dévastée
Shared letters: adesé. Private to "dépassée": p. Private to "dévastée": tv.
"dépassée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "dévastée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassée" for "dévastée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dépassée" or "dévastée" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévastée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,737 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassée" and "dévastée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévastée vs dévastées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #237,737 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.