dépollutionvsdévolutionTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,251
“dépollution” frequency rank
#47,311
“dévolution” frequency rank
88562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépollution dévolution
Definition Action de dépolluer. Transfert, transmission d’un bien, d’une succession, d’un avantage, etc., qui se fait d’une personne à une autre en vertu d’un droit dévolu.

Where the eye mixes dépollution and dévolution

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. dépollution runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCVVC) against dévolution's 10 (CVCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
dépollution
10 ch
dévolution

Visual trap between dépollution and dévolution

A purely visual mix-up. dépollution (\de.pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\) and dévolution (\de.vɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépollution is recorded at frequency rank #41,251, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\. dévolution is at rank #47,311, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.vɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\.

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 88562, this pair ranks #6,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dépollution vs dévolution

Shared letters: dilnotué. Private to "dépollution": p. Private to "dévolution": v.

"dépollution" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC  ·  "dévolution" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dépollution" and "dévolution" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\ versus \de.vɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dépollution" vs "dévolution" - which ranks higher?
"dépollution" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,251 in our French list, against #47,311 for "dévolution". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "dépollution" and "dévolution" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dépollution" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévolution" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dépollution" and "dévolution" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désolation vs dévolution". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #6,836 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