décèdentvsdécidentTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,462
“décèdent” frequency rank
#6,605
“décident” frequency rank
55067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes décèdent and décident

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. décèdent and décident 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
décident

Visual trap between décèdent and décident

A purely visual mix-up. décèdent (\de.sɛd\) and décident (\de.sid\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - è in “décèdent” becomes i in “décident”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55067, 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\. décident is at rank #6,605, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.sid\.

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 55067, this pair ranks #129,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décèdent vs décident

Shared letters: cdenté. Private to "décèdent": è. Private to "décident": i.

"décèdent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "décident" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décèdent" for "décident" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.sɛd\ versus \de.sid\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décèdent" or "décident" show up more?
"décident" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,605 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 "décident" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décèdent" and "décident" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèdent vs décorent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #129,877 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