dérobéevsdérogerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dérobée is a noun, déroger is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

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

7 ch
dérobée
7 ch
déroger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

dérobée#37,298
déroger#29,747

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dérobée" and "déroger" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dérobée" is a noun and "déroger" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dérobée" or "déroger"?
"déroger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,747 in our French list, against #37,298 for "dérobée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dérobée vs déroger

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 “déroger”.
  • 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

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

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