devenirvsdevenusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: devenir is a noun, devenus is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devenir” is a noun and “devenus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#720
“devenir” frequency rank
#4,141
“devenus” frequency rank
4861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devenir devenus
Definition Situation à venir, évolution future de quelque chose ou de quelqu’un, de plusieurs personnes, jugée comme incertaine. Participe passé du verbe devenir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set devenir and devenus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
devenir
7 ch
devenus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devenir is \dəv.niʁ\ while devenus is \də.və.ny\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devenir is recorded at frequency rank #720, classified as anoun, pronounced \dəv.niʁ\. devenus is at rank #4,141, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.və.ny\.

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 4861, this pair ranks #430,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of devenir vs devenus

Shared letters: denv. Private to "devenir": ir. Private to "devenus": su.

"devenir" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "devenus" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devenirddevenir · deevnir · deveinr · devenirr · devennir · devenri · devneir · devvenir
  • devenusddevenus · deevnus · devennus · devensu · devenuss · deveuns · devneus · devvenus

Frequency comparison

devenir#720
devenus#4,141

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devenir" and "devenus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devenir" is a noun and "devenus" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "devenir" or "devenus"?
"devenir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #720 in our French list, against #4,141 for "devenus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering devenir vs devenus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “devenir”; for a verb, it's “devenus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “devenir” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list