dépenservsdéverserTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,609
“dépenser” frequency rank
#26,709
“déverser” frequency rank
33318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépenser déverser
Definition Employer telle ou telle somme à l’achat de telle ou telle chose. Faire couler de l’eau d’un lieu dans un autre.

Where the eye mixes dépenser and déverser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dépenser and déverser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
dépenser
8 ch
déverser

Look-alike desk: dépenser vs déverser

A purely visual mix-up. dépenser (\de.pɑ̃.se\) and déverser (\de.vɛʁ.se\) 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 33318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépenser is recorded at frequency rank #6,609, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.se\. déverser is at rank #26,709, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vɛʁ.se\.

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 33318, this pair ranks #291,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dépenser vs déverser

Shared letters: dersé. Private to "dépenser": np. Private to "déverser": v.

"dépenser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "déverser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dépenser" and "déverser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.pɑ̃.se\ versus \de.vɛʁ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "dépenser" or "déverser" show up more?
"dépenser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,609 in our French list, against #26,709 for "déverser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "dépenser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déverser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dépenser" and "déverser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déversé vs déverser". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #291,450 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