décèdentvsdécidantWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,462
“décèdent” frequency rank
#23,842
“décidant” frequency rank
72304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décèdent décidant
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décéder. Participe présent de décider.

Where the eye mixes décèdent and décidant

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

8 ch
décèdent
8 ch
décidant

Visual trap between décèdent and décidant

A purely visual mix-up. décèdent (\de.sɛd\) and décidant (\de.si.dɑ̃\) 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 72304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décèdent is recorded at frequency rank #48,462, classified as averb, pronounced \de.sɛd\. décidant is at rank #23,842, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.dɑ̃\.

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 72304, this pair ranks #44,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décèdent vs décidant

Shared letters: cdnté. Private to "décèdent": eè. Private to "décidant": ai.

"décèdent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "décidant" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décèdent" for "décidant" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.sɛd\ versus \de.si.dɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "décèdent" or "décidant"?
"décidant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,842 in our French list, against #48,462 for "décèdent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décèdent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décidant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,462 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décèdent" and "décidant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèdent vs décorent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,462 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