Which to use
“dérobée” is a noun and “déroger” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,298
- “dérobée” frequency rank
- #29,747
- “déroger” frequency rank
- 67045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérobée | déroger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Danse traditionnelle bretonne. | S’écarter, de quelque manière que ce soit, de ce qui est établi par une loi, un acte de l’autorité publique, une convention, des droits, un usage, etc. |
Where the eye mixes dérobée and déroger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dérobée (CVCVCVV) and déroger (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dérobée with déroger
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dérobée is \de.ʁɔ.be\ while déroger is \de.ʁɔ.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67045, 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\. déroger is at rank #29,747, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.ʒe\.
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 67045, this pair ranks #65,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dérobée vs déroger
Shared letters: deoré. Private to "dérobée": b. Private to "déroger": g.
"dérobée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "déroger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dérobée" for "déroger" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dérobée" vs "déroger" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dérobée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déroger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérobée" and "déroger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dérobée vs déroge". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #65,146 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.