divorcevsdivorcerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: divorce is a noun, divorcer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“divorce” is a noun and “divorcer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,024
“divorce” frequency rank
#23,836
“divorcer” frequency rank
28860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divorce divorcer
Definition Dissolution judiciaire du mariage. Prononcer, demander, obtenir la dissolution d'un mariage.

Where the eye mixes divorce and divorcer

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

7 ch
divorce
8 ch
divorcer

Visual trap between divorce and divorcer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: divorce is \di.vɔʁs\ while divorcer is \di.vɔʁ.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “divorce” sits inside “divorcer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28860, 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\. divorcer is at rank #23,836, tagged as averb, 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 28860, this pair ranks #320,216 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of divorce vs divorcer

Shared letters: cdeiorv. Private to "divorce": -. Private to "divorcer": -.

"divorce" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "divorcer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divorce ← ddivorce · diovrce · divocre · divorcce · divorec · divorrce · divroce · divvorce
  • divorcer ← ddivorcer · diovrcer · divocrer · divorccer · divorcerr · divorcre · divorecr · divorrcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "divorce" and "divorcer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "divorce" is a noun and "divorcer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "divorce" or "divorcer"?
"divorce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,024 in our French list, against #23,836 for "divorcer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "divorce" and "divorcer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "divorce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "divorcer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #320,216 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "divorce" and "divorcer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "divorcent vs divorcer". 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 #320,216 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