descends

\dɛ.sɑ̃\

/\dɛ.sɑ̃\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“descends” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #19,255. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#19,255
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
16
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-descends · descends · French

descends · rank #19,255 · 13 variants · 16 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,255
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH demeures

Nearest frequency peer: demeures (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « descends »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « descends » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

descends vs détends
63% similar
descends vs descente
75% similar
descends vs descendu
88% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for descends
PropertyValue
Headworddescends
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\dɛ.sɑ̃\
Letters8
Frequency rank#19,255
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs16
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « descends »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).descendsse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « demeures » (#19,254), « desserts » (#19,256), « cérébrales » (#19,253). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « descends » est au #19,255. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around descends (IPA \dɛ.sɑ̃\), averb. Corpus frequency is #19,255 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for descends, with forms such as "ddescends", "decsends", and "desccends". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "détends", "descente", "descendu", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is descends, spelled D-E-S-C-E-N-D-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre.
  2. 2
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre.
  3. 3
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de descendre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how descends appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Je prends le tunnel des Tuileries, c’est l’itinéraire, je descends doucement bicause la circule qui f’sait gribiche, y commence à faire du foin, à couiner dans les coins, je mate le rétro, z’auriez vu ses chasses sous les hublots : deux œufs au plat-paprika, vrai, je déconne pas.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddescends
  • decsends
  • desccends
  • descedns
  • descendds
  • descendss
  • descennds
  • descensd
  • descneds
  • desecnds
  • desscends
  • dsecends
  • edscends

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of descends - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ddescends1decsends2desccends1descedns2descendds1descendss1descennds1descensd2
Edit distance from "descends"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "descends"?
"descends" is spelled D-E-S-C-E-N-D-S. The IPA pronunciation is \dɛ.sɑ̃\.
What does "descends" mean?
As a verb, "descends" means: Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre.
What words are commonly confused with "descends"?
"descends" is commonly confused with "détends", "descente", "descendu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "descends"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "descends" is \dɛ.sɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "descends" come from?
"descends" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "descends", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

demeures#19,254desserts#19,256cueillir#19,250débutent#19,262

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

combinés13 variantscognitive13 variantsentendues13 variantsexploitée13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list