décelervsdeciderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,721
“déceler” frequency rank
#41,731
“decider” frequency rank
60452
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déceler decider
Definition Dévoiler ce que quelqu’un cache intentionnellement. Décider.

Where the eye mixes déceler and decider

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
déceler
7 ch
decider

Look-alike desk: déceler vs decider

A purely visual mix-up. déceler (\de.s(ə.)le\) and decider (\de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60452, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déceler is recorded at frequency rank #18,721, classified as averb, pronounced \de.s(ə.)le\. decider is at rank #41,731, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\.

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 60452, this pair ranks #97,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déceler vs decider

Shared letters: cder. Private to "déceler": . Private to "decider": i.

"déceler" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "decider" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deciderdceider · ddecider · deccider · decdier · decidder · deciderr · decidre · deciedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déceler" for "decider" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.s(ə.)le\ versus \de.t͡si.ˈdɛr\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "déceler" vs "decider" - which ranks higher?
"déceler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,721 in our French list, against #41,731 for "decider". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déceler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "decider" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déceler" and "decider" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decider vs délier". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #97,502 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