Which to use
“désolée” is an adjective and “dévoilée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,338
- “désolée” frequency rank
- #17,691
- “dévoilée” frequency rank
- 23029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désolée | dévoilée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de désolé. | Participe passé féminin singulier de dévoiler. |
Where the eye mixes désolée and dévoilée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. désolée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against dévoilée's 8 (CVCVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses désolée with dévoilée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désolée is \de.zɔ.le\ while dévoilée is \de.vwa.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désolée is recorded at frequency rank #5,338, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.zɔ.le\. dévoilée is at rank #17,691, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vwa.le\.
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 23029, this pair ranks #354,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désolée vs dévoilée
Shared letters: deloé. Private to "désolée": s. Private to "dévoilée": iv.
"désolée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "dévoilée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désolée" and "dévoilée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "désolée" or "dévoilée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "désolée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévoilée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désolée" and "dévoilée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviée vs dévoilée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #354,770 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.