déplacéevsdéplaireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: déplacée is a noun, déplaire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“déplacée” is a noun and “déplaire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,117
“déplacée” frequency rank
#21,299
“déplaire” frequency rank
37416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déplacée déplaire
Definition Équivalent de déplacé, dans le cas d’une femme. Être désagréable, en parlant des personnes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set déplacée and déplaire apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
déplacée
8 ch
déplaire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déplacée is \de.pla.se\ while déplaire is \de.plɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déplacée is recorded at frequency rank #16,117, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pla.se\. déplaire is at rank #21,299, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.plɛʁ\.

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 37416, this pair ranks #262,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déplacée vs déplaire

Shared letters: adelpé. Private to "déplacée": c. Private to "déplaire": ir.

"déplacée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "déplaire" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Frequency comparison

déplacée#16,117
déplaire#21,299

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déplacée" and "déplaire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déplacée" is a noun and "déplaire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "déplacée" or "déplaire"?
"déplacée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,117 in our French list, against #21,299 for "déplaire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering déplacée vs déplaire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “déplacée”; for a verb, it's “déplaire”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “déplacée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list