Which to use
“détiennent” and “deviennent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,690
- “détiennent” frequency rank
- #2,818
- “deviennent” frequency rank
- 20508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | détiennent | deviennent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de détenir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de devenir. |
Where the eye mixes détiennent and deviennent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. détiennent and deviennent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between détiennent and deviennent
A purely visual mix-up. détiennent (\de.tjɛn\) and deviennent (\də.vjɛn\) 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 20508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
détiennent is recorded at frequency rank #17,690, classified as averb, pronounced \de.tjɛn\. deviennent is at rank #2,818, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vjɛn\.
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 20508, this pair ranks #367,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of détiennent vs deviennent
Shared letters: deint. Private to "détiennent": é. Private to "deviennent": v.
"détiennent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC · "deviennent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- deviennent ← ddeviennent · deivennent · deveinnent · devienennt · devienent · deviennennt · deviennentt · deviennetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "détiennent" and "deviennent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "détiennent" or "deviennent" 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 "détiennent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deviennent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "détiennent" and "deviennent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deviennent vs devinrent". 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 #367,910 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.