Which to use
“désir” and “deuil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,670
- “désir” frequency rank
- #5,652
- “deuil” frequency rank
- 8322
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désir | deuil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de désirer ; résultat de cette action. | Affliction, douleur qu’on éprouve lors du décès de quelqu’un, ou suite à une autre perte importante. |
Where the eye mixes désir and deuil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between désir and deuil
A purely visual mix-up. désir (\de.ziʁ\) and deuil (\dœj\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désir is recorded at frequency rank #2,670, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ziʁ\. deuil is at rank #5,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dœj\.
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 8322, this pair ranks #420,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désir vs deuil
Shared letters: di. Private to "désir": rsé. Private to "deuil": elu.
"désir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "deuil" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- deuil ← ddeuil · deiul · deuill · deuli · dueil · eduil
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désir" for "deuil" ever safe?
Frequency check: "désir" vs "deuil" - 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 "désir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deuil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désir" and "deuil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs deuil". 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 #420,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.