Which to use
“décédé” is an adjective and “décida” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,068
- “décédé” frequency rank
- #9,309
- “décida” frequency rank
- 13377
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décédé | décida |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mort. Qui a cessé de vivre. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de décider. |
Where the eye mixes décédé and décida
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décédé and décida follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: décédé vs décida
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décédé is \de.se.de\ while décida is \de.si.da\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 13377, 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\. décida is at rank #9,309, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.da\.
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 13377, this pair ranks #401,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of décédé vs décida
Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédé": -. Private to "décida": ai.
"décédé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décédé" and "décida" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "décédé" or "décida"?
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 "décida" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décédé" and "décida" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décédé vs dèche". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #401,267 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.