Which to use
“décale” and “dédale” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,506
- “décale” frequency rank
- #30,989
- “dédale” frequency rank
- 65495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décale | dédale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sortie de l’école pour les vacances. | Labyrinthe, lieu où l’on s’égare, où l’on se perd, à cause de la complication des détours. |
Where the eye mixes décale and dédale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décale and dédale follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: décale vs dédale
A purely visual mix-up. décale (\de.kal\) and dédale (\de.dal\) 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 a single letter - c in “décale” becomes d in “dédale”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65495, 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\. dédale is at rank #30,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.dal\.
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 65495, this pair ranks #72,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décale vs dédale
Shared letters: adelé. Private to "décale": c. Private to "dédale": -.
"décale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dédale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décale" for "dédale" ever safe?
Frequency check: "décale" vs "dédale" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "décale" and "dédale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dédale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décale" and "dédale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décale vs décimale". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,088 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.