Which to use
“dériver” and “dérober” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,632
- “dériver” frequency rank
- #23,527
- “dérober” frequency rank
- 49159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dériver | dérober |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Détourner un cours d’eau. | Enlever ou voler en cachette. |
Where the eye mixes dériver and dérober
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dériver and dérober follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dériver and dérober
A purely visual mix-up. dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) and dérober (\de.ʁɔ.be\) 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 49159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dériver is recorded at frequency rank #25,632, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁi.ve\. dérober is at rank #23,527, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.be\.
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 49159, this pair ranks #172,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dériver vs dérober
Shared letters: deré. Private to "dériver": iv. Private to "dérober": bo.
"dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "dérober" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dériver" for "dérober" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dériver" vs "dérober" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dériver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dérober" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dériver" and "dérober" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délier vs dériver". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #172,962 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.