Which to use
“dérober” and “dérouter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,527
- “dérober” frequency rank
- #46,729
- “dérouter” frequency rank
- 70256
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dérober | dérouter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enlever ou voler en cachette. | Égarer quelqu’un de sa route. |
Where the eye mixes dérober and dérouter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dérober vs dérouter
A purely visual mix-up. dérober (\de.ʁɔ.be\) and dérouter (\de.ʁu.te\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70256, 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\. dérouter is at rank #46,729, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁu.te\.
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 70256, this pair ranks #52,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dérober vs dérouter
Shared letters: deoré. Private to "dérober": b. Private to "dérouter": tu.
"dérober" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "dérouter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dérober" for "dérouter" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dérober" or "dérouter" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dérober" and "dérouter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dérober" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dérouter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dérober" and "dérouter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débouté vs dérouter". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #52,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.