descente

\de.sɑ̃t\

/\de.sɑ̃t\/ noun

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

The verdict

“descente” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,662. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,662
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de descendre, d’aller vers le bas.

Corpus desk

Index FR-descente · descente · French

descente · rank #4,662 · 12 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,662
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH célibataire

Nearest frequency peer: célibataire (-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 « descente »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « descente » 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).

descente vs détente
63% similar
descente vs déserte
63% similar
descente vs désuète
50% similar

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

Key facts for descente
PropertyValue
Headworddescente
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\de.sɑ̃t\
Letters8
Frequency rank#4,662
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « descente »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.descentese place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « célibataire » (#4,661), « curiosité » (#4,660), « doc » (#4,664). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « descente » est au #4,662. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around descente (IPA \de.sɑ̃t\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,662 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 16 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for descente, with forms such as "ddescente", "decsente", and "desccente". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "détente", "déserte", "désuète", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is descente, spelled D-E-S-C-E-N-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de descendre, d’aller vers le bas.
  2. 2
    Action par laquelle on descend quelque chose.
  3. 3
    Pente par laquelle on descend.
  4. 4
    Tuyau qui porte les eaux d’un chéneau ou d’une cuvette jusque sur le pavé ou par lequel descendent les eaux d’un réservoir.
  5. 5
    Discipline de course à ski.
  6. 6
    Discipline de course en canoë-kayak.
  7. 7
    Discipline de VTT.
  8. 8
    Mouvement de haut en bas de quelque chose.
  9. 9
    Hernie, ou autre incommodité, qui consiste dans le déplacement et la chute de quelque partie des intestins.
  10. 10
    Action de se déplacer temporairement d’un endroit à un autre, pour un séjour.
  11. 11
    Irruption des ennemis par mer ou par terre.
  12. 12
    Action de se transporter dans un lieu par autorité de justice, ou par action policière, pour en faire la visite, pour y procéder à une perquisition, etc.
  13. 13
    Soif, appétit démesuré.
  14. 14
    Fin de trip, retour à un état hors d’effet d’une drogue.
  15. 15
    Sorte de surprise-partie.
  16. 16
    Ouverture dans le pont d’un navire munie d’une échelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Nous reprenons le raidillon ; il n'est guère plus drôle à descendre qu'à monter : tantôt nous étions courbés en avant, maintenant il faut, pour la descente, se rejeter en arrière...
  2. La descente de la châsse de sainte Geneviève.

Synonyms

descente d’eau pluvialetuyau de descente

Antonyms

montée

This word in other languages

descent(English)bajada(Español)Hinuntergehen(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddescente
  • decsente
  • desccente
  • descenet
  • descennte
  • descentte
  • descetne
  • descnete
  • desecnte
  • desscente
  • dsecente
  • edscente

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of descente - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddescente1decsente2desccente1descenet2descennte1descentte1descetne2descnete2
Edit distance from "descente"

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 "descente"?
"descente" is spelled D-E-S-C-E-N-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \de.sɑ̃t\.
What does "descente" mean?
As a noun, "descente" means: Action de descendre, d’aller vers le bas.
What words are commonly confused with "descente"?
"descente" is commonly confused with "détente", "déserte", "désuète". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "descente"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "descente" is \de.sɑ̃t\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "descente" come from?
"descente" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "descente", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

conquête#4,656fontaine#4,671féminine#4,674hôpitaux#4,679

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

instance12 variantsaccusation12 variantssondages12 variantsréunions12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list