Which to use
“devaient” and “deviens” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,249
- “devaient” frequency rank
- #6,181
- “deviens” frequency rank
- 9430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devaient | deviens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de devoir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de devenir. |
Where the eye mixes devaient and deviens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devaient and deviens
A purely visual mix-up. devaient (\də.vɛ\) and deviens (\də.vjɛ̃\) 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 9430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devaient is recorded at frequency rank #3,249, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\. deviens is at rank #6,181, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vjɛ̃\.
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 9430, this pair ranks #416,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devaient vs deviens
Shared letters: deinv. Private to "devaient": at. Private to "deviens": s.
"devaient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC · "deviens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devaient" and "deviens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "devaient" or "deviens" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "devaient" and "deviens" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deviens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devaient" and "deviens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviants vs deviens". 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 #416,669 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.