Which to use
“dérivées” is an adjective and “dériver” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,201
- “dérivées” frequency rank
- #25,632
- “dériver” frequency rank
- 49833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérivées | dériver |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de dérivé. | Détourner un cours d’eau. |
Same sound, different letters: dérivées vs dériver
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. dérivées runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against dériver's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: dérivées vs dériver
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dérivées and dériver carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ʁi.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dérivées is recorded at frequency rank #24,201, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\. 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 49833, this pair ranks #167,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dérivées vs dériver
Shared letters: deirvé. Private to "dérivées": s. Private to "dériver": -.
"dérivées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dérivées" for "dériver" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dérivées" or "dériver" show up more?
What to do next
"dérivées" and "dériver" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "dérivées" 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 #167,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérivées" and "dériver" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dérivées vs désirées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #167,521 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.