Which to use
“dérober” and “déroger” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,527
- “dérober” frequency rank
- #29,747
- “déroger” frequency rank
- 53274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérober | déroger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enlever ou voler en cachette. | 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 dérober and déroger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dérober and déroger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses dérober with déroger
A purely visual mix-up. dérober (\de.ʁɔ.be\) and déroger (\de.ʁɔ.ʒe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - b in “dérober” becomes g in “déroger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dérober is recorded at frequency rank #23,527, classified as averb, 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 53274, this pair ranks #141,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dérober vs déroger
Shared letters: deoré. Private to "dérober": b. Private to "déroger": g.
"dérober" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "déroger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dérober" for "déroger" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dérober" 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 "dérober" 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 #141,894 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérober" and "déroger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déroger vs dérouter". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #141,894 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.