Which to use
“décadent” is an adjective and “demandent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,715
- “décadent” frequency rank
- #3,193
- “demandent” frequency rank
- 49908
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décadent | demandent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient à ce que l'on considère comme époque de décadence. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de demander. |
Where the eye mixes décadent and demandent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décadent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against demandent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses décadent with demandent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décadent is \de.ka.dɑ̃\ while demandent is \də.mɑ̃d\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décadent is recorded at frequency rank #46,715, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ka.dɑ̃\. demandent is at rank #3,193, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.mɑ̃d\.
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 49908, this pair ranks #166,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décadent vs demandent
Shared letters: adent. Private to "décadent": cé. Private to "demandent": m.
"décadent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "demandent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demandent ← ddemandent · deamndent · demadnent · demanddent · demandennt · demandentt · demandetn · demandnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décadent" for "demandent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "décadent" vs "demandent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "décadent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demandent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décadent" and "demandent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décadent vs décèdent". 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 #166,899 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.