Which to use
“devais” is a verb and “devant” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,910
- “devais” frequency rank
- #265
- “devant” frequency rank
- 4175
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devais | devant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir. | À l’opposé de, vis-à-vis de, en face de. |
Where the eye mixes devais and devant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devais and devant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devais is \də.vɛ\ while devant is \də.vɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devais is recorded at frequency rank #3,910, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\. devant is at rank #265, tagged as aprep, pronounced \də.vɑ̃\.
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 4175, this pair ranks #432,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devais vs devant
Shared letters: adev. Private to "devais": is. Private to "devant": nt.
"devais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "devais" and "devant" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "devais" or "devant" 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 "devais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devais" and "devant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devais vs Devaux". 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 #432,269 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.