divorcéevsdivorcentWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,408
“divorcée” frequency rank
#36,802
“divorcent” frequency rank
64210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divorcée divorcent
Definition Femme qui a divorcé. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de divorcer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
divorcée
9 ch
divorcent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: divorcée is \di.vɔʁ.se\ while divorcent is \di.vɔʁs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

divorcée is recorded at frequency rank #27,408, classified as anoun, pronounced \di.vɔʁ.se\. divorcent is at rank #36,802, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.vɔʁs\.

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 64210, this pair ranks #78,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of divorcée vs divorcent

Shared letters: cdeiorv. Private to "divorcée": é. Private to "divorcent": nt.

"divorcée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "divorcent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divorcentddivorcent · diovrcent · divocrent · divorccent · divorcennt · divorcentt · divorcetn · divorcnet

Frequency comparison

divorcée#27,408
divorcent#36,802

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "divorcée" and "divorcent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "divorcée" is a noun and "divorcent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "divorcée" or "divorcent"?
"divorcée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,408 in our French list, against #36,802 for "divorcent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering divorcée vs divorcent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “divorcée”; for a verb, it's “divorcent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “divorcée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list