déposervsdésolerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,070
“déposer” frequency rank
#39,770
“désoler” frequency rank
43840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déposer désoler
Definition Ôter un objet de la place où on l’avait fixé. Transformer en solitude une région, une ville, en y exerçant des ravages.

Where the eye mixes déposer and désoler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. déposer and désoler follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
déposer
7 ch
désoler

Why the eye confuses déposer with désoler

A purely visual mix-up. déposer (\de.po.ze\) and désoler (\de.zɔ.le\) 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 43840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déposer is recorded at frequency rank #4,070, classified as averb, pronounced \de.po.ze\. désoler is at rank #39,770, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.zɔ.le\.

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 43840, this pair ranks #214,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déposer vs désoler

Shared letters: deorsé. Private to "déposer": p. Private to "désoler": l.

"déposer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "désoler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déposer" and "désoler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.po.ze\ versus \de.zɔ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déposer" or "désoler"?
"déposer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,070 in our French list, against #39,770 for "désoler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déposer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "désoler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déposer" and "désoler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dénouer vs désoler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #214,992 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