Which to use
“devant” is a preposition and “devins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #265
- “devant” frequency rank
- #47,827
- “devins” frequency rank
- 48092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devant | devins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | À l’opposé de, vis-à-vis de, en face de. | Pluriel de devin. |
Where the eye mixes devant and devins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses devant with devins
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devant is \də.vɑ̃\ while devins is \də.vɛ̃\. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devant is recorded at frequency rank #265, classified as aprep, pronounced \də.vɑ̃\. devins is at rank #47,827, tagged as anoun, 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 48092, this pair ranks #181,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of devant vs devins
Shared letters: denv. Private to "devant": at. Private to "devins": is.
"devant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "devins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devant" and "devins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "devant" vs "devins" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "devant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devant" and "devins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviants vs devins". 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 #181,705 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.