Which to use
“désir” is a noun and “devil” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,670
- “désir” frequency rank
- #30,561
- “devil” frequency rank
- 33231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désir | devil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de désirer ; résultat de cette action. | Le Diable, Satan. |
Where the eye mixes désir and devil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: désir vs devil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désir is \de.ziʁ\ while devil is \ˈdɛvəl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33231, 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\. devil is at rank #30,561, tagged as aname, pronounced \ˈdɛvəl\.
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 33231, this pair ranks #292,018 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désir vs devil
Shared letters: di. Private to "désir": rsé. Private to "devil": elv.
"désir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "devil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devil ← ddevil · deivl · devill · devli · devvil · dveil · edvil
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "désir" and "devil" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "désir" or "devil"?
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 "devil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,018 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désir" and "devil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs devil". 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 #292,018 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.