DCIvsdesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#49,016
“DCI” frequency rank
#10
“des” frequency rank
49026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature DCI des
Definition Dénomination commune internationale. Article indéfini du pluriel. C’est ainsi le pluriel de un ou une.

Where the eye mixes DCI and des

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
DCI
3 ch
des

Look-alike desk: DCI vs des

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: DCI is \de.se.i\ while des is \de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

DCI is recorded at frequency rank #49,016, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.se.i\. 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 49026, this pair ranks #174,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of DCI vs des

Shared letters: d. Private to "DCI": ci. Private to "des": es.

"DCI" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "des" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "DCI" for "des" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "DCI" is a noun and "des" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "DCI" vs "des" - which ranks higher?
"des" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our French list, against #49,016 for "DCI". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "DCI" 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 #174,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "DCI" and "des" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "DCI vs domi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #174,078 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