Which to use
“désirait” and “devrait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,245
- “désirait” frequency rank
- #413
- “devrait” frequency rank
- 22658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désirait | devrait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de désirer. | Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel de devoir. |
Where the eye mixes désirait and devrait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between désirait and devrait
A purely visual mix-up. désirait (\de.zi.ʁɛ\) and devrait (\də.vʁɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désirait is recorded at frequency rank #22,245, classified as averb, pronounced \de.zi.ʁɛ\. devrait is at rank #413, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vʁɛ\.
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 22658, this pair ranks #356,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désirait vs devrait
Shared letters: adirt. Private to "désirait": sé. Private to "devrait": ev.
"désirait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "devrait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devrait ← ddevrait · dervait · devarit · devraitt · devrati · devriat · devrrait · devvrait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désirait" and "devrait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "désirait" or "devrait" show up more?
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 "désirait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devrait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désirait" and "devrait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désiraient vs désirait". 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 #356,799 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.