déviéevsdiviséeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,005
“déviée” frequency rank
#9,471
“divisée” frequency rank
54476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déviée divisée
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de dévier. Participe passé féminin singulier de diviser.

Where the eye mixes déviée and divisée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. déviée runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against divisée's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
déviée
7 ch
divisée

Why the eye confuses déviée with divisée

A purely visual mix-up. déviée (\de.vje\) and divisée (\di.vi.ze\) 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 54476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déviée is recorded at frequency rank #45,005, classified as averb, pronounced \de.vje\. divisée is at rank #9,471, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.vi.ze\.

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 54476, this pair ranks #133,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déviée vs divisée

Shared letters: deivé. Private to "déviée": -. Private to "divisée": s.

"déviée" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "divisée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déviée" for "divisée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.vje\ versus \di.vi.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "déviée" or "divisée" show up more?
"divisée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,471 in our French list, against #45,005 for "déviée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déviée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "divisée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déviée" and "divisée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déviée vs devins". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #133,774 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