Which to use
“décédée” and “décédées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,992
- “décédée” frequency rank
- #34,995
- “décédées” frequency rank
- 43987
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décédée | décédées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de décédé. | Féminin pluriel de décédé. |
Same sound, different letters: décédée vs décédées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. décédée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against décédées's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - décédée / décédées
This is the hard kind. décédée and décédées are pronounced identically (\de.se.de\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “décédée” sits inside “décédées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décédée is recorded at frequency rank #8,992, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\. décédées is at rank #34,995, tagged as anadj, 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 43987, this pair ranks #213,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décédée vs décédées
Shared letters: cdeé. Private to "décédée": -. Private to "décédées": s.
"décédée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "décédées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décédée" for "décédées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "décédée" or "décédées" show up more?
Useful next steps
"décédée" and "décédées" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "décédée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décédées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décédée" and "décédées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décédées vs décèdent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #213,897 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.