Which to use
“des” is an article and “drew” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10
- “des” frequency rank
- #16,598
- “drew” frequency rank
- 16608
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | des | drew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une. | Prétérit du verbe draw. |
Where the eye mixes des and drew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses des with drew
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: des is \de\ while drew is \dɹuː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
des is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as anarticle, pronounced \de\. drew is at rank #16,598, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɹuː\.
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 16608, this pair ranks #387,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of des vs drew
Shared letters: de. Private to "des": s. Private to "drew": rw.
"des" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "drew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- drew ← ddrew · derw · dreww · drrew · drwe · rdew
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "des" and "drew" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "des" or "drew"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "des" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "des" and "drew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dray vs drew". 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 #387,049 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.