dérangervsdevancerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,650
“déranger” frequency rank
#29,310
“devancer” frequency rank
38960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déranger devancer
Definition Ôter une chose de son rang, de sa place ; mettre en désordre ce qui était arrangé. Précéder quelqu’un en gagnant le devant, arriver avant lui.

Where the eye mixes déranger and devancer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

8 ch
déranger
8 ch
devancer

Look-alike desk: déranger vs devancer

A purely visual mix-up. déranger (\de.ʁɑ̃.ʒe\) and devancer (\də.vɑ̃.se\) 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 38960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déranger is recorded at frequency rank #9,650, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɑ̃.ʒe\. devancer is at rank #29,310, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɑ̃.se\.

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 38960, this pair ranks #251,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déranger vs devancer

Shared letters: adenr. Private to "déranger": . Private to "devancer": cv.

"déranger" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "devancer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devancerddevancer · deavncer · devacner · devanccer · devancerr · devancre · devanecr · devanncer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déranger" and "devancer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁɑ̃.ʒe\ versus \də.vɑ̃.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "déranger" vs "devancer" - which ranks higher?
"déranger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,650 in our French list, against #29,310 for "devancer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déranger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devancer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #251,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déranger" and "devancer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devancer 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 #251,563 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