décédervsdécidezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,290
“décéder” frequency rank
#18,996
“décidez” frequency rank
56286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décéder décidez
Definition Mourir, en parlant des personnes. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décider.

Where the eye mixes décéder and décidez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décéder and décidez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
décéder
7 ch
décidez

Why the eye confuses décéder with décidez

A purely visual mix-up. décéder (\de.se.de\) and décidez (\de.si.de\) 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 56286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décéder is recorded at frequency rank #37,290, classified as averb, pronounced \de.se.de\. décidez is at rank #18,996, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.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 56286, this pair ranks #122,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décéder vs décidez

Shared letters: cdeé. Private to "décéder": r. Private to "décidez": iz.

"décéder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "décidez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décéder" for "décidez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.se.de\ versus \de.si.de\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décéder" vs "décidez" - which ranks higher?
"décidez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,996 in our French list, against #37,290 for "décéder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décéder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décidez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décéder" and "décidez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèdent vs décéder". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #122,039 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