Which to use
“décale” is a noun and “dérape” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,506
- “décale” frequency rank
- #27,789
- “dérape” frequency rank
- 62295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décale | dérape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sortie de l’école pour les vacances. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de déraper. |
Where the eye mixes décale and dérape
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décale and dérape follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses décale with dérape
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décale is \de.kal\ while dérape is \de.ʁap\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62295, 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\. dérape is at rank #27,789, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁap\.
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 62295, this pair ranks #87,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décale vs dérape
Shared letters: adeé. Private to "décale": cl. Private to "dérape": pr.
"décale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dérape" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décale" and "dérape" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "décale" or "dérape"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "décale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dérape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décale" and "dérape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décale vs décimale". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #87,865 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.