divorce vs divorcer, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set divorce and divorcer apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

divorce

8 ch

divorcer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

divorce#5,024

divorcer#23,836

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "divorce" and "divorcer" be used interchangeably?

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.

Remembering divorce vs divorcer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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