détournéesvsdétournerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: détournées is a adjective, détourner is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“détournées” is an adjective and “détourner” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,262
“détournées” frequency rank
#8,842
“détourner” frequency rank
47104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature détournées détourner
Definition Féminin pluriel de détourné. Éloigner dans une autre direction.

Same sound, different letters: détournées vs détourner

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. détournées runs 10 letters (CVCVVCCVVC) against détourner's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
détournées
9 ch
détourner

Ear matches; page differs - détournées and détourner

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: détournées and détourner carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.tuʁ.ne\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

détournées is recorded at frequency rank #38,262, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.tuʁ.ne\. détourner is at rank #8,842, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.tuʁ.ne\.

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 47104, this pair ranks #189,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of détournées vs détourner

Shared letters: denortué. Private to "détournées": s. Private to "détourner": -.

"détournées" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVC  ·  "détourner" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "détournées" and "détourner" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "détournées" is an adjective and "détourner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "détournées" or "détourner"?
"détourner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,842 in our French list, against #38,262 for "détournées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"détournées" and "détourner" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "détournées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "détourner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #189,600 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "détournées" and "détourner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "détournées vs détournent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #189,600 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