Which to use
“décédé” is an adjective and “décèle” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,068
- “décédé” frequency rank
- #46,127
- “décèle” frequency rank
- 50195
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décédé | décèle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mort. Qui a cessé de vivre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de déceler. |
Where the eye mixes décédé and décèle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. décédé and décèle follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between décédé and décèle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décédé is \de.se.de\ while décèle is \de.sɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50195, 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\. décèle is at rank #46,127, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.sɛl\.
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 50195, this pair ranks #164,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décédé vs décèle
Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédé": -. Private to "décèle": elè.
"décédé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décèle" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décédé" for "décèle" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "décédé" or "décèle" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "décédé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décèle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,549 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décédé" and "décèle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèle vs dèche". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #164,549 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.