décédés vs décès, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“décédés” is an adjective and “décès” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,181
“décédés” frequency rank: #2,037
“décès” frequency rank: 20218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	décédés	décès
Definition	Masculin pluriel de décédé.	Mort naturelle d’une personne.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décédés and décès apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

décédés

5 ch

décès

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décédés is \de.se.de\ while décès is \de.sɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décédés is recorded at frequency rank #18,181, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\. décès is at rank #2,037, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ\.

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 20218, this pair ranks #369,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of décédés vs décès

Shared letters: cdsé. Private to "décédés": -. Private to "décès": è.

"décédés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "décès" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

décédés#18,181

décès#2,037

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décédés" and "décès" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décédés" is an adjective and "décès" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "décédés" or "décès"?

"décès" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,037 in our French list, against #18,181 for "décédés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décédés vs décès

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “décédés”; for a noun, it's “décès”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décédés” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable