Which to use
“dévier” and “devoir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,248
- “dévier” frequency rank
- #843
- “devoir” frequency rank
- 23091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dévier | devoir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se détourner ; être détourné de sa direction. | Avoir à payer une somme d’argent, à rendre ou à donner quelque chose que ce soit. |
Where the eye mixes dévier and devoir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dévier vs devoir
A purely visual mix-up. dévier (\de.vje\) and devoir (\də.vwaʁ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dévier is recorded at frequency rank #22,248, classified as averb, pronounced \de.vje\. devoir is at rank #843, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vwaʁ\.
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 23091, this pair ranks #354,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dévier vs devoir
Shared letters: deirv. Private to "dévier": é. Private to "devoir": o.
"dévier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "devoir" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devoir ← ddevoir · deovir · devior · devoirr · devori · devvoir · dveoir · edvoir
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dévier" and "devoir" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dévier" vs "devoir" - 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 "dévier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devoir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dévier" and "devoir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévier 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 #354,418 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.