Which to use
“dessin” and “devin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,117
- “dessin” frequency rank
- #20,977
- “devin” frequency rank
- 23094
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dessin | devin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Représentation d’objets, de personnages, de paysages, etc. sur une surface à l’aide d’un crayon, à la plume, au pinceau ou par tout autre instrument. | Homme qui prétend prédire les évènements qui arriveront et découvrir les choses cachées. |
Where the eye mixes dessin and devin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dessin runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against devin's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dessin and devin
A purely visual mix-up. dessin (\de.sɛ̃\) and devin (\də.vɛ̃\) 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 23094, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dessin is recorded at frequency rank #2,117, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\. devin is at rank #20,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.vɛ̃\.
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 23094, this pair ranks #354,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dessin vs devin
Shared letters: dein. Private to "dessin": s. Private to "devin": v.
"dessin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "devin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dessin" and "devin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dessin" or "devin" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dessin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dessin" and "devin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denim vs devin". 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 #354,389 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.