Which to use
“désirs” and “devoirs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,819
- “désirs” frequency rank
- #3,836
- “devoirs” frequency rank
- 11655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désirs | devoirs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de désir. | Pluriel de devoir. |
Where the eye mixes désirs and devoirs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: désirs vs devoirs
A purely visual mix-up. désirs (\de.ziʁ\) and devoirs (\də.vwaʁ\) 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 11655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désirs is recorded at frequency rank #7,819, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ziʁ\. devoirs is at rank #3,836, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vwaʁ\.
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 11655, this pair ranks #408,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désirs vs devoirs
Shared letters: dirs. Private to "désirs": é. Private to "devoirs": eov.
"désirs" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "devoirs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devoirs ← ddevoirs · deovirs · deviors · devoirrs · devoirss · devoisr · devoris · devvoirs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désirs" and "devoirs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "désirs" vs "devoirs" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "désirs" and "devoirs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "désirs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devoirs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désirs" and "devoirs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirs vs devins". 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 #408,326 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.