dérapervsdériverConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,772
“déraper” frequency rank
#25,632
“dériver” frequency rank
64404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déraper dériver
Definition Quitter prise sur le fond en parlant d’une ancre, ce qui a pour effet de faire dériver le navire. Détourner un cours d’eau.

Where the eye mixes déraper and dériver

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

7 ch
déraper
7 ch
dériver

Why the eye confuses déraper with dériver

A purely visual mix-up. déraper (\de.ʁa.pe\) and dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) 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 64404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déraper is recorded at frequency rank #38,772, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁa.pe\. dériver is at rank #25,632, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\.

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 64404, this pair ranks #77,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déraper vs dériver

Shared letters: deré. Private to "déraper": ap. Private to "dériver": iv.

"déraper" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déraper" and "dériver" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁa.pe\ versus \de.ʁi.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "déraper" vs "dériver" - which ranks higher?
"dériver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,632 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déraper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dériver" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déraper" and "dériver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déraper vs draper". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #77,242 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