dérangevsdevanceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,674
“dérange” frequency rank
#16,591
“devance” frequency rank
20265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dérange devance
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déranger. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de devancer.

Where the eye mixes dérange and devance

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
dérange
7 ch
devance

Visual trap between dérange and devance

A purely visual mix-up. dérange (\de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\) and devance (\də.vɑ̃s\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dérange is recorded at frequency rank #3,674, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\. devance is at rank #16,591, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɑ̃s\.

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 20265, this pair ranks #369,162 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dérange vs devance

Shared letters: aden. Private to "dérange": gré. Private to "devance": cv.

"dérange" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "devance" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devanceddevance · deavnce · devacne · devancce · devanec · devannce · devnace · devvance

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dérange" for "devance" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁɑ̃ʒ\ versus \də.vɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dérange" vs "devance" - which ranks higher?
"dérange" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,674 in our French list, against #16,591 for "devance". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dérange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #369,162 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dérange" and "devance" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devance vs déviance". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #369,162 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