# diffraction vs distraction

> French confusable word pair

## The two words

### diffraction
*noun · IPA \di.fʁak.sjɔ̃\ · frequency rank #39,252*
Déviation d’une onde, d’un faisceau de corpuscules.

### distraction
*noun · IPA \dis.tʁak.sjɔ̃\ · frequency rank #17,114*
Inattention, inapplication de la pensée aux choses dont on devrait s’occuper.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/fr/vs/diffraction-vs-distraction