Which to use
“devance” is a verb and “devants” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,591
- “devance” frequency rank
- #23,169
- “devants” frequency rank
- 39760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devance | devants |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de devancer. | Pluriel de devant. |
Where the eye mixes devance and devants
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: devance vs devants
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devance is \də.vɑ̃s\ while devants 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devance is recorded at frequency rank #16,591, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɑ̃s\. devants is at rank #23,169, tagged as anoun, 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 39760, this pair ranks #245,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devance vs devants
Shared letters: adenv. Private to "devance": c. Private to "devants": st.
"devance" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "devants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "devance" and "devants" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "devance" or "devants"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "devance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devance" and "devants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devants vs déviants". 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 #245,610 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.