Which to use
“décalés” is an adjective and “ducale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,507
- “décalés” frequency rank
- #38,760
- “ducale” frequency rank
- 73267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décalés | ducale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de décalé. | Lettre patente du sénat de Venise. |
Where the eye mixes décalés and ducale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décalés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against ducale's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses décalés with ducale
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décalés is \de.ka.le\ while ducale is \dy.kal\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décalés is recorded at frequency rank #34,507, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ka.le\. ducale is at rank #38,760, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.kal\.
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 73267, this pair ranks #41,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décalés vs ducale
Shared letters: acdl. Private to "décalés": sé. Private to "ducale": eu.
"décalés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "ducale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ducale ← dcuale · dducale · duacle · ducael · ducalle · duccale · duclae · udcale
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décalés" for "ducale" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "décalés" or "ducale" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "décalés" and "ducale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décalés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ducale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décalés" and "ducale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèle vs ducale". 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 #41,061 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.