développéevsdévelopperConfusable pair

Which to use

“développée” and “développer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,610
“développée” frequency rank
#1,812
“développer” frequency rank
8422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature développée développer
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier du verbe développer. Dégager une chose de ce qui l’enveloppe.

Where the eye mixes développée and développer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. développée (CVCVCVCCVV) and développer (CVCVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
développée
10 ch
développer

Look-alike desk: développée vs développer

A purely visual mix-up. développée (\dev.lɔ.pe\) and développer (\dɛv.lɔ.pe\) 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 8422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

développée is recorded at frequency rank #6,610, classified as averb, pronounced \dev.lɔ.pe\. développer is at rank #1,812, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɛv.lɔ.pe\.

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 8422, this pair ranks #420,074 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of développée vs développer

Shared letters: delopvé. Private to "développée": -. Private to "développer": r.

"développée" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVV  ·  "développer" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "développée" and "développer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dev.lɔ.pe\ versus \dɛv.lɔ.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "développée" or "développer" show up more?
"développer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,812 in our French list, against #6,610 for "développée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "développée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "développer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,074 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "développée" and "développer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "développée vs développera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #420,074 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list