divinvsdrainWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: divin is a adjective, drain is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“divin” is an adjective and “drain” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,380
“divin” frequency rank
#33,222
“drain” frequency rank
41602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divin drain
Definition Qui est de Dieu, qui appartient à Dieu, à un dieu. Une des trois électrodes d’un transistor à effet de champ (les deux autres sont appelées source et grille). Il joue un rôle analogue à l’anode dans les tubes à vide, ou le collecteur dans les transistors bipolaires.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set divin and drain apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
divin
5 ch
drain

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: divin is \di.vɛ̃\ while drain is \dʁɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

divin is recorded at frequency rank #8,380, classified as anadj, pronounced \di.vɛ̃\. drain is at rank #33,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʁɛ̃\.

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 41602, this pair ranks #231,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of divin vs drain

Shared letters: din. Private to "divin": v. Private to "drain": ar.

"divin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "drain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divinddivin · diivn · divinn · divni · divvin · dviin · idvin
  • draindarin · ddrain · drainn · drani · drian · drrain

Frequency comparison

divin#8,380
drain#33,222

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "divin" and "drain" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "divin" is an adjective and "drain" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "divin" or "drain"?
"divin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,380 in our French list, against #33,222 for "drain". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering divin vs drain

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “divin”; for a noun, it's “drain”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “divin” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list