Which to use
“décale” and “dèche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,506
- “décale” frequency rank
- #49,607
- “dèche” frequency rank
- 84113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décale | dèche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sortie de l’école pour les vacances. | Misère, gêne financière. |
Where the eye mixes décale and dèche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. décale runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against dèche's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses décale with dèche
A purely visual mix-up. décale (\de.kal\) and dèche (\dɛʃ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décale is recorded at frequency rank #34,506, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.kal\. dèche is at rank #49,607, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɛʃ\.
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 84113, this pair ranks #13,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décale vs dèche
Shared letters: cde. Private to "décale": alé. Private to "dèche": hè.
"décale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décale" and "dèche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "décale" vs "dèche" - 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 "décale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dèche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décale" and "dèche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #13,546 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.