dévoluesvsdévouéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,133
“dévolues” frequency rank
#17,942
“dévoué” frequency rank
64075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dévolues dévoué
Definition Féminin pluriel de dévolu. Qui est disposé à tout faire pour être utile ou agréable à quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes dévolues and dévoué

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dévolues runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against dévoué's 6 (CVCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
dévolues
6 ch
dévoué

Why the eye confuses dévolues with dévoué

A purely visual mix-up. dévolues (\de.vɔ.ly\) and dévoué (\de.vwe\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dévolues is recorded at frequency rank #46,133, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.vɔ.ly\. dévoué is at rank #17,942, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.vwe\.

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 64075, this pair ranks #78,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dévolues vs dévoué

Shared letters: douvé. Private to "dévolues": els. Private to "dévoué": -.

"dévolues" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "dévoué" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dévolues" and "dévoué" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.vɔ.ly\ versus \de.vwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dévolues" vs "dévoué" - which ranks higher?
"dévoué" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,942 in our French list, against #46,133 for "dévolues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "dévolues" and "dévoué" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dévolues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dévoué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dévolues" and "dévoué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dévolues vs dévolus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #78,804 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