Which to use
“désir” is a noun and “dévie” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,670
- “désir” frequency rank
- #35,008
- “dévie” frequency rank
- 37678
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désir | dévie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de désirer ; résultat de cette action. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dévier. |
Where the eye mixes désir and dévie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between désir and dévie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désir is \de.ziʁ\ while dévie is \de.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37678, 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\. dévie is at rank #35,008, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vi\.
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 37678, this pair ranks #260,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désir vs dévie
Shared letters: dié. Private to "désir": rs. Private to "dévie": ev.
"désir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dévie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désir" for "dévie" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "désir" or "dévie" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "désir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désir" and "dévie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs dévie". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #260,744 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.