Which to use
“devenait” and “devrait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,468
- “devenait” frequency rank
- #413
- “devrait” frequency rank
- 9881
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devenait | devrait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devenir. | Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel de devoir. |
Where the eye mixes devenait and devrait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses devenait with devrait
A purely visual mix-up. devenait (\də.və.nɛ\) and devrait (\də.vʁɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devenait is recorded at frequency rank #9,468, classified as averb, pronounced \də.və.nɛ\. devrait is at rank #413, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vʁɛ\.
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 9881, this pair ranks #415,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devenait vs devrait
Shared letters: adeitv. Private to "devenait": n. Private to "devrait": r.
"devenait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "devrait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devenait" for "devrait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devenait" vs "devrait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "devenait" and "devrait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "devenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devrait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devenait" and "devrait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devenais vs devenait". 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 #415,057 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.