dérapevsdéraperTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,789
“dérape” frequency rank
#38,772
“déraper” frequency rank
66561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dérape déraper
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déraper. Quitter prise sur le fond en parlant d’une ancre, ce qui a pour effet de faire dériver le navire.

Where the eye mixes dérape and déraper

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dérape runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against déraper's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
dérape
7 ch
déraper

Why the eye confuses dérape with déraper

A purely visual mix-up. dérape (\de.ʁap\) and déraper (\de.ʁa.pe\) 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) - “dérape” sits inside “déraper”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dérape is recorded at frequency rank #27,789, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁap\. déraper is at rank #38,772, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁa.pe\.

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 66561, this pair ranks #67,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dérape vs déraper

Shared letters: adepré. Private to "dérape": -. Private to "déraper": -.

"dérape" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "déraper" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dérape" and "déraper" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁap\ versus \de.ʁa.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dérape" or "déraper"?
"dérape" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,789 in our French list, against #38,772 for "déraper". 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 "dérape" and "déraper" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dérape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déraper" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dérape" and "déraper" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dérape vs derme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #67,269 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