Which to use
“désolée” and “dévolue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,338
- “désolée” frequency rank
- #38,775
- “dévolue” frequency rank
- 44113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désolée | dévolue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de désolé. | Féminin singulier de dévolu. |
Where the eye mixes désolée and dévolue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. désolée and dévolue follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: désolée vs dévolue
A purely visual mix-up. désolée (\de.zɔ.le\) and dévolue (\de.vɔ.ly\) 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 44113, 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\. dévolue is at rank #38,775, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.vɔ.ly\.
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 44113, this pair ranks #212,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désolée vs dévolue
Shared letters: deloé. Private to "désolée": s. Private to "dévolue": uv.
"désolée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "dévolue" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "désolée" and "dévolue" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "désolée" or "dévolue"?
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 "désolée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dévolue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désolée" and "dévolue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévolue vs dévolus". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #212,978 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.