Which to use
“dérive” and “dérivée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,052
- “dérive” frequency rank
- #22,550
- “dérivée” frequency rank
- 29602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérive | dérivée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Écart, déviation entre le cap effectivement suivi par un navire ou un aéroplane et le cap initialement fixé. | Limite du taux d’accroissement d’une fonction d'une variable réelle en un point quand l’accroissement de la variable tend vers zéro. |
Where the eye mixes dérive and dérivée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dérive with dérivée
A purely visual mix-up. dérive (\de.ʁiv\) and dérivée (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dérive is recorded at frequency rank #7,052, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁiv\. dérivée is at rank #22,550, tagged as anoun, 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 29602, this pair ranks #315,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dérive vs dérivée
Shared letters: deirvé. Private to "dérive": -. Private to "dérivée": -.
"dérive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dérivée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dérive" for "dérivée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dérive" or "dérivée"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dérive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dérivée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérive" and "dérivée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décriée vs dérivée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #315,642 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.