diabètevsdiamètreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,032
“diabète” frequency rank
#4,418
“diamètre” frequency rank
15450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diabète diamètre
Definition Nom donné à plusieurs pathologies donnant un dérèglement du contrôle de la glycémie. Ligne droite qui va d’un point de la circonférence d’un cercle (ou d’une sphère) à un autre point en passant par le centre. Le diamètre représente deux fois le rayon.

Where the eye mixes diabète and diamètre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. diabète runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against diamètre's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
diabète
8 ch
diamètre

Look-alike desk: diabète vs diamètre

A purely visual mix-up. diabète (\dja.bɛt\) and diamètre (\dja.mɛtʁ\) 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 15450, 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\. diamètre is at rank #4,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dja.mɛtʁ\.

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 15450, this pair ranks #392,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of diabète vs diamètre

Shared letters: adeitè. Private to "diabète": b. Private to "diamètre": mr.

"diabète" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "diamètre" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "diabète" for "diamètre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dja.bɛt\ versus \dja.mɛtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "diabète" or "diamètre"?
"diamètre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,418 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.

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 "diabète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diamètre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,313 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "diabète" and "diamètre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diamètre vs diantre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #392,313 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