Which to use
“divorce” and “divorcée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,024
- “divorce” frequency rank
- #27,408
- “divorcée” frequency rank
- 32432
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | divorce | divorcée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dissolution judiciaire du mariage. | Femme qui a divorcé. |
Where the eye mixes divorce and divorcée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. divorce runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against divorcée's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses divorce with divorcée
A purely visual mix-up. divorce (\di.vɔʁs\) and divorcée (\di.vɔʁ.se\) 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 32432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
divorce is recorded at frequency rank #5,024, classified as anoun, pronounced \di.vɔʁs\. divorcée is at rank #27,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced \di.vɔʁ.se\.
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 32432, this pair ranks #297,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of divorce vs divorcée
Shared letters: cdeiorv. Private to "divorce": -. Private to "divorcée": é.
"divorce" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "divorcée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- divorce ← ddivorce · diovrce · divocre · divorcce · divorec · divorrce · divroce · divvorce
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "divorce" for "divorcée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "divorce" or "divorcée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "divorce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "divorcée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "divorce" and "divorcée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "divorcée vs divorcent". 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 #297,333 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.