décédésvsdécidéeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,181
“décédés” frequency rank
#10,142
“décidée” frequency rank
28323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décédés décidée
Definition Masculin pluriel de décédé. Féminin singulier de décidé.

Where the eye mixes décédés and décidée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décédés (CVCVCVC) and décidée (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
décédés
7 ch
décidée

Why the eye confuses décédés with décidée

A purely visual mix-up. décédés (\de.se.de\) and décidée (\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 28323, 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\. décidée is at rank #10,142, tagged as anadj, 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 28323, this pair ranks #323,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décédés vs décidée

Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédés": s. Private to "décidée": ei.

"décédés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "décidée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décédés" and "décidée" be used interchangeably?
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: "décédés" vs "décidée" - which ranks higher?
"décidée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,142 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "décédés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décidée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décédés" and "décidée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décèdent vs décédés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #323,540 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