diabètevsdiableWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,032
“diabète” frequency rank
#3,528
“diable” frequency rank
14560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diabète diable
Definition Nom donné à plusieurs pathologies donnant un dérèglement du contrôle de la glycémie. Créature infernale.

Where the eye mixes diabète and diable

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

7 ch
diabète
6 ch
diable

Visual trap between diabète and diable

A purely visual mix-up. diabète (\dja.bɛt\) and diable (\djɑbl\) 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 14560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

diabète is recorded at frequency rank #11,032, classified as anoun, pronounced \dja.bɛt\. diable is at rank #3,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced \djɑbl\.

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 14560, this pair ranks #396,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of diabète vs diable

Shared letters: abdei. Private to "diabète": tè. Private to "diable": l.

"diabète" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "diable" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diable ← daible · ddiable · diabble · diabel · diablle · dialbe · dibale · idable

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "diabète" and "diable" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\dja.bɛt\ versus \djɑbl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "diabète" or "diable"?
"diable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,528 in our French list, against #11,032 for "diabète". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "diabète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "diabète" and "diable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diabète vs diadème". 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 #396,137 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