dérobée vs déroge, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dérobée” is a noun and “déroge” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,298
“dérobée” frequency rank: #43,401
“déroge” frequency rank: 80699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dérobée	déroge
Definition	Danse traditionnelle bretonne.	Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déroger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dérobée and déroge apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

dérobée

6 ch

déroge

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dérobée is \de.ʁɔ.be\ while déroge is \de.ʁɔʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80699, 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\. déroge is at rank #43,401, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔʒ\.

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 80699, this pair ranks #20,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dérobée vs déroge

Shared letters: deoré. Private to "dérobée": b. Private to "déroge": g.

"dérobée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "déroge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

dérobée#37,298

déroge#43,401

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dérobée" and "déroge" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dérobée" is a noun and "déroge" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dérobée" or "déroge"?

"dérobée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,298 in our French list, against #43,401 for "déroge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dérobée vs déroge

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dérobée”; for a verb, it's “déroge”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dérobée” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable