dérisionvsdivisionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,121
“dérision” frequency rank
#1,994
“division” frequency rank
19115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dérision division
Definition Moquerie souvent accompagnée de mépris. Action de diviser.

Where the eye mixes dérision and division

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

8 ch
dérision
8 ch
division

Look-alike desk: dérision vs division

A purely visual mix-up. dérision (\de.ʁi.zjɔ̃\) and division (\di.vi.zjɔ̃\) 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 19115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dérision is recorded at frequency rank #17,121, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁi.zjɔ̃\. division is at rank #1,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced \di.vi.zjɔ̃\.

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 19115, this pair ranks #374,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dérision vs division

Shared letters: dinos. Private to "dérision": . Private to "division": v.

"dérision" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "division" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divisionddivision · diivsion · diviison · divisino · divisionn · divisoin · divission · divsiion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dérision" and "division" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁi.zjɔ̃\ versus \di.vi.zjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dérision" vs "division" - which ranks higher?
"division" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,994 in our French list, against #17,121 for "dérision". 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 "dérision" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "division" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dérision" and "division" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decision vs dérision". 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 #374,934 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