décédéesvsdécoréesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“décédées” and “décorées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,995
“décédées” frequency rank
#24,945
“décorées” frequency rank
59940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décédées décorées
Definition Féminin pluriel de décédé. Féminin pluriel de décoré.

Where the eye mixes décédées and décorées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décédées and décorées follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
décédées
8 ch
décorées

Visual trap between décédées and décorées

A purely visual mix-up. décédées (\de.se.de\) and décorées (\de.kɔ.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décédées is recorded at frequency rank #34,995, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\. décorées is at rank #24,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʁe\.

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 59940, this pair ranks #100,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décédées vs décorées

Shared letters: cdesé. Private to "décédées": -. Private to "décorées": or.

"décédées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "décorées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décédées" and "décorées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.se.de\ versus \de.kɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décédées" or "décorées" show up more?
"décorées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,945 in our French list, against #34,995 for "décédées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "décédées" and "décorées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décédées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décorées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,329 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décédées" and "décorées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décédées vs décèdent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #100,329 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list