décédé vs décéder, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,068
“décédé” frequency rank: #37,290
“décéder” frequency rank: 41358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	décédé	décéder
Definition	Mort. Qui a cessé de vivre.	Mourir, en parlant des personnes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décédé and décéder apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

décédé

7 ch

décéder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: décédé and décéder carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.se.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, 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 41358, 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\. décéder is at rank #37,290, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.se.de\.

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 41358, this pair ranks #233,674 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décédé vs décéder

Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédé": -. Private to "décéder": er.

"décédé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décéder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

décédé#4,068

décéder#37,290

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"décédé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,068 in our French list, against #37,290 for "décéder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décédé vs décéder

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 “décéder”.
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