Which to use
“début” and “déçue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #335
- “début” frequency rank
- #10,491
- “déçue” frequency rank
- 10826
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | début | déçue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commencement. | Femme déçue. |
Where the eye mixes début and déçue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: début vs déçue
A purely visual mix-up. début (\de.by\) and déçue (\de.sy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
début is recorded at frequency rank #335, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.by\. déçue is at rank #10,491, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sy\.
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 10826, this pair ranks #411,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of début vs déçue
Shared letters: dué. Private to "début": bt. Private to "déçue": eç.
"début" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "déçue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "début" for "déçue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "début" vs "déçue" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "début" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déçue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "début" and "déçue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçue". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #411,532 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.