décapitésvsdéfaitesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“décapités” and “défaites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,263
“décapités” frequency rank
#7,554
“défaites” frequency rank
46817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décapités défaites
Definition Masculin pluriel de décapité. Féminin pluriel de défait.

Where the eye mixes décapités and défaites

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décapités runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCVC) against défaites's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
décapités
8 ch
défaites

Visual trap between décapités and défaites

A purely visual mix-up. décapités (\de.ka.pi.te\) and défaites (\de.fɛt\) 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 46817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décapités is recorded at frequency rank #39,263, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ka.pi.te\. défaites is at rank #7,554, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.fɛt\.

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 46817, this pair ranks #191,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décapités vs défaites

Shared letters: adisté. Private to "décapités": cp. Private to "défaites": ef.

"décapités" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "défaites" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décapités" and "défaites" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ka.pi.te\ versus \de.fɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décapités" vs "défaites" - which ranks higher?
"défaites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,554 in our French list, against #39,263 for "décapités". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "décapités" and "défaites" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décapités" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "défaites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décapités" and "défaites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décapitée vs décapités". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #191,843 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