déraillevsdéraillerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,782
“déraille” frequency rank
#35,913
“dérailler” frequency rank
73695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déraille dérailler
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dérailler. Sortir des rails.

Where the eye mixes déraille and dérailler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. déraille runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against dérailler's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
déraille
9 ch
dérailler

Look-alike desk: déraille vs dérailler

A purely visual mix-up. déraille (\de.ʁaj\) and dérailler (\de.ʁɑ.je\) 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 extra letter(s) - “déraille” sits inside “dérailler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déraille is recorded at frequency rank #37,782, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁaj\. dérailler is at rank #35,913, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɑ.je\.

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 73695, this pair ranks #39,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déraille vs dérailler

Shared letters: adeilré. Private to "déraille": -. Private to "dérailler": -.

"déraille" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "dérailler" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déraille" and "dérailler" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁaj\ versus \de.ʁɑ.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "déraille" or "dérailler" show up more?
"dérailler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,913 in our French list, against #37,782 for "déraille". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déraille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dérailler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déraille" and "dérailler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déballer vs dérailler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #39,594 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