dérogervsdévorerConfusable pair

Which to use

“déroger” and “dévorer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,747
“déroger” frequency rank
#17,692
“dévorer” frequency rank
47439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déroger dévorer
Definition 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. Manger avec voracité et rapidité (le sujet désigne un animal carnassier).

Where the eye mixes déroger and dévorer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. déroger and dévorer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
déroger
7 ch
dévorer

Why the eye confuses déroger with dévorer

A purely visual mix-up. déroger (\de.ʁɔ.ʒe\) and dévorer (\de.vɔ.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déroger is recorded at frequency rank #29,747, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.ʒe\. dévorer is at rank #17,692, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vɔ.ʁe\.

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 47439, this pair ranks #186,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déroger vs dévorer

Shared letters: deoré. Private to "déroger": g. Private to "dévorer": v.

"déroger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dévorer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déroger" and "dévorer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁɔ.ʒe\ versus \de.vɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "déroger" or "dévorer" show up more?
"dévorer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,692 in our French list, against #29,747 for "déroger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déroger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévorer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déroger" and "dévorer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déroger vs dérouter". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #186,923 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list