décédé vs décèdent, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,068
“décédé” frequency rank: #48,462
“décèdent” frequency rank: 52530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	décédé	décèdent
Definition	Mort. Qui a cessé de vivre.	Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décéder.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décédé and décèdent apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

décédé

8 ch

décèdent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décédé is \de.se.de\ while décèdent is \de.sɛd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décédé is recorded at frequency rank #4,068, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\. décèdent is at rank #48,462, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.sɛd\.

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 52530, this pair ranks #147,096 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décédé vs décèdent

Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédé": -. Private to "décèdent": entè.

"décédé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décèdent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequency comparison

décédé#4,068

décèdent#48,462

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décédé" and "décèdent" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décédé" is an adjective and "décèdent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "décédé" or "décèdent"?

"décédé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,068 in our French list, against #48,462 for "décèdent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering décédé vs décèdent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “décédé”; for a verb, it's “décèdent”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décédé” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable