dérivervsdevinerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,632
“dériver” frequency rank
#7,420
“deviner” frequency rank
33052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dériver deviner
Definition Détourner un cours d’eau. Prédire ce qui doit arriver, découvrir, par des sortilèges, ce qui est caché.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dériver and deviner apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
dériver
7 ch
deviner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dériver (\de.ʁi.ve\) and deviner (\də.vi.ne\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33052, 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\. deviner is at rank #7,420, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vi.ne\.

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 33052, this pair ranks #293,170 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dériver vs deviner

Shared letters: deirv. Private to "dériver": é. Private to "deviner": n.

"dériver" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "deviner" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devinerddeviner · deivner · devienr · devinerr · devinner · devinre · devnier · devviner

Frequency comparison

dériver#25,632
deviner#7,420

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dériver" and "deviner" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁi.ve\ versus \də.vi.ne\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dériver" or "deviner"?
"deviner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,420 in our French list, against #25,632 for "dériver". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dériver vs deviner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dériver” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list