Which to use
“dépassées” and “dévastées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,580
- “dépassées” frequency rank
- #48,476
- “dévastées” frequency rank
- 79056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassées | dévastées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de dépassé. | Féminin pluriel de dévasté. |
Where the eye mixes dépassées and dévastées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassées and dévastées follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dépassées and dévastées
A purely visual mix-up. dépassées (\de.pa.se\) and dévastées (\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 79056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassées is recorded at frequency rank #30,580, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.pa.se\. dévastées is at rank #48,476, 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 79056, this pair ranks #24,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépassées vs dévastées
Shared letters: adesé. Private to "dépassées": p. Private to "dévastées": tv.
"dépassées" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dévastées" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassées" for "dévastées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dépassées" or "dévastées" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévastées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassées" and "dévastées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délaissées vs dépassées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #24,167 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.