désolésvsdévoluesConfusable pair

Which to use

“désolés” and “dévolues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,146
“désolés” frequency rank
#46,133
“dévolues” frequency rank
74279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désolés dévolues
Definition Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif désolé. Féminin pluriel de dévolu.

Where the eye mixes désolés and dévolues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. désolés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against dévolues's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
désolés
8 ch
dévolues

Look-alike desk: désolés vs dévolues

A purely visual mix-up. désolés (\de.zɔ.le\) and dévolues (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désolés is recorded at frequency rank #28,146, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.zɔ.le\. dévolues is at rank #46,133, 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 74279, this pair ranks #37,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of désolés vs dévolues

Shared letters: dlosé. Private to "désolés": -. Private to "dévolues": euv.

"désolés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dévolues" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "désolés" and "dévolues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.zɔ.le\ versus \de.vɔ.ly\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "désolés" vs "dévolues" - which ranks higher?
"désolés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,146 in our French list, against #46,133 for "dévolues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "désolés" and "dévolues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "désolés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévolues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "désolés" and "dévolues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévolues vs dévolus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #37,637 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list