décaléesvsdécalésTell them apart

Quick tell: décalées is a verb, décalés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décalées” is a verb and “décalés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,747
“décalées” frequency rank
#34,507
“décalés” frequency rank
76254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décalées décalés
Definition Participe passé féminin pluriel de décaler. Masculin pluriel de décalé.

Same sound, different letters: décalées vs décalés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. décalées runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against décalés's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
décalées
7 ch
décalés

Homophone desk: décalées vs décalés

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: décalées and décalés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ka.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décalées is recorded at frequency rank #41,747, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ka.le\. décalés is at rank #34,507, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.ka.le\.

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 76254, this pair ranks #31,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décalées vs décalés

Shared letters: acdlsé. Private to "décalées": e. Private to "décalés": -.

"décalées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "décalés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décalées" and "décalés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décalées" is a verb and "décalés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "décalées" or "décalés" show up more?
"décalés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,507 in our French list, against #41,747 for "décalées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"décalées" and "décalés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décalées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décalés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décalées" and "décalés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décalages vs décalées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,648 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list