Which to use
“dérobée” is a noun and “dérober” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,298
- “dérobée” frequency rank
- #23,527
- “dérober” frequency rank
- 60825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérobée | dérober |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Danse traditionnelle bretonne. | Enlever ou voler en cachette. |
Same sound, different letters: dérobée vs dérober
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. dérobée (CVCVCVV) and dérober (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - dérobée / dérober
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dérobée and dérober carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ʁɔ.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dérobée is recorded at frequency rank #37,298, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.be\. 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 60825, this pair ranks #95,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dérobée vs dérober
Shared letters: bdeoré. Private to "dérobée": -. Private to "dérober": -.
"dérobée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "dérober" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dérobée" and "dérober" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dérobée" or "dérober"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "dérobée" / "dérober". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "dérobée" 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 #95,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérobée" and "dérober" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dérobée vs déroge". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #95,569 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.