Which to use
“devrais” and “dirais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,273
- “devrais” frequency rank
- #2,315
- “dirais” frequency rank
- 4588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devrais | dirais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du conditionnel de devoir. | Première personne du singulier du conditionnel de dire. |
Where the eye mixes devrais and dirais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: devrais vs dirais
A purely visual mix-up. devrais (\də.vʁɛ\) and dirais (\di.ʁɛ\) 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 4588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devrais is recorded at frequency rank #2,273, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vʁɛ\. dirais is at rank #2,315, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.ʁɛ\.
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 4588, this pair ranks #431,230 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devrais vs dirais
Shared letters: adirs. Private to "devrais": ev. Private to "dirais": -.
"devrais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "dirais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "devrais" for "dirais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "devrais" vs "dirais" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "devrais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dirais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,230 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devrais" and "dirais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devenais vs devrais". 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 #431,230 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.