dérapervsdraperTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,772
“déraper” frequency rank
#34,989
“draper” frequency rank
73761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déraper draper
Definition Quitter prise sur le fond en parlant d’une ancre, ce qui a pour effet de faire dériver le navire. Couvrir de drap, ou plus généralement de draperies tendues en signe de deuil.

Where the eye mixes déraper and draper

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
déraper
6 ch
draper

Why the eye confuses déraper with draper

A purely visual mix-up. déraper (\de.ʁa.pe\) and draper (\dʁa.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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73761, 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\. draper is at rank #34,989, tagged as averb, pronounced \dʁa.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 73761, this pair ranks #39,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déraper vs draper

Shared letters: adepr. Private to "déraper": é. Private to "draper": -.

"déraper" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "draper" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • draperdarper · ddraper · draepr · draperr · drapper · drapre · drpaer · drraper

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déraper" and "draper" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁa.pe\ versus \dʁa.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "déraper" vs "draper" - which ranks higher?
"draper" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,989 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déraper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "draper" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déraper" and "draper" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doper vs draper". 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 #39,369 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