Which to use
“décence” is a noun and “décents” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,722
- “décence” frequency rank
- #47,850
- “décents” frequency rank
- 66572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décence | décents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bienséance, ce qui est décent. | Masculin pluriel de décent. |
Where the eye mixes décence and décents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décence (CVCVCCV) and décents (CVCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between décence and décents
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décence is \de.sɑ̃s\ while décents is \de.sɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décence is recorded at frequency rank #18,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɑ̃s\. décents is at rank #47,850, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.sɑ̃\.
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 66572, this pair ranks #67,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décence vs décents
Shared letters: cdené. Private to "décence": -. Private to "décents": st.
"décence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "décents" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décence" for "décents" ever safe?
Which is more common, "décence" or "décents"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "décence" and "décents" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décence" and "décents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décents vs démentis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #67,217 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.