Which to use
“déroge” is a verb and “désolé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,401
- “déroge” frequency rank
- #1,390
- “désolé” frequency rank
- 44791
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | déroge | désolé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déroger. | Désert ; ravagé ; triste. |
Where the eye mixes déroge and désolé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. déroge and désolé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: déroge vs désolé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déroge is \de.ʁɔʒ\ while désolé is \de.zɔ.le\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
déroge is recorded at frequency rank #43,401, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔʒ\. désolé is at rank #1,390, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.zɔ.le\.
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 44791, this pair ranks #207,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of déroge vs désolé
Shared letters: doé. Private to "déroge": egr. Private to "désolé": ls.
"déroge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "désolé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "déroge" and "désolé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "déroge" vs "désolé" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "déroge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désolé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #207,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "déroge" and "désolé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derme vs déroge". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #207,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.