dérogervsdroguerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,747
“déroger” frequency rank
#35,473
“droguer” frequency rank
65220
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déroger droguer
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. Traiter avec des drogues.

Where the eye mixes déroger and droguer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. déroger (CVCVCVC) and droguer (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
déroger
7 ch
droguer

Why the eye confuses déroger with droguer

A purely visual mix-up. déroger (\de.ʁɔ.ʒe\) and droguer (\dʁɔ.ɡe\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65220, 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\. droguer is at rank #35,473, tagged as averb, pronounced \dʁɔ.ɡe\.

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 65220, this pair ranks #73,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déroger vs droguer

Shared letters: degor. Private to "déroger": é. Private to "droguer": u.

"déroger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "droguer" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • droguer ← ddroguer · dorguer · drgouer · drogeur · drogguer · droguerr · drogure · drouger

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déroger" and "droguer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʁɔ.ʒe\ versus \dʁɔ.ɡe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déroger" or "droguer"?
"déroger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,747 in our French list, against #35,473 for "droguer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "déroger" and "droguer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déroger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "droguer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déroger" and "droguer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dragues vs droguer". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #73,307 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