Which to use
“devait” and “devint” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #871
- “devait” frequency rank
- #5,122
- “devint” frequency rank
- 5993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devait | devint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de devenir. |
Where the eye mixes devait and devint
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between devait and devint
A purely visual mix-up. devait (\də.vɛ\) and devint (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devait is recorded at frequency rank #871, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\. devint is at rank #5,122, tagged as averb, 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 5993, this pair ranks #427,480 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devait vs devint
Shared letters: deitv. Private to "devait": a. Private to "devint": n.
"devait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devint" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devait" for "devint" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devait" vs "devint" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "devait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,480 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devait" and "devint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviants vs devint". 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 #427,480 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.