daysvsdesConfusable pair

Quick tell: days is a noun, des is an article, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“days” is a noun and “des” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,404
“days” frequency rank
#10
“des” frequency rank
17414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature days des
Definition Pluriel de day. Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une.

Where the eye mixes days and des

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
days
3 ch
des

Look-alike desk: days vs des

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: days is \deɪz\ while des is \de\. 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 article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

days is recorded at frequency rank #17,404, classified as anoun, pronounced \deɪz\. des is at rank #10, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \de\.

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 17414, this pair ranks #383,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of days vs des

Shared letters: ds. Private to "days": ay. Private to "des": e.

"days" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "des" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daysadys · dasy · dayss · dayys · ddays · dyas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "days" and "des" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "days" is a noun and "des" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "days" vs "des" - which ranks higher?
"des" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our French list, against #17,404 for "days". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "days" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "des" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #383,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "days" and "des" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "days vs dray". 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 #383,289 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