Which to use
“désolation” and “dévolution” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,952
- “désolation” frequency rank
- #47,311
- “dévolution” frequency rank
- 72263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désolation | dévolution |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Extrême affliction. | Transfert, transmission d’un bien, d’une succession, d’un avantage, etc., qui se fait d’une personne à une autre en vertu d’un droit dévolu. |
Where the eye mixes désolation and dévolution
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses désolation with dévolution
A purely visual mix-up. désolation (\de.zɔ.la.sjɔ̃\) and dévolution (\de.vɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désolation is recorded at frequency rank #24,952, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.zɔ.la.sjɔ̃\. dévolution is at rank #47,311, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.vɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\.
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 72263, this pair ranks #44,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of désolation vs dévolution
Shared letters: dilnoté. Private to "désolation": as. Private to "dévolution": uv.
"désolation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "dévolution" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "désolation" and "dévolution" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "désolation" or "dévolution" 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 "désolation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévolution" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désolation" and "dévolution" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépollution vs dévolution". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #44,613 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.