Which to use
“décence” is a noun and “devance” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,722
- “décence” frequency rank
- #16,591
- “devance” frequency rank
- 35313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décence | devance |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bienséance, ce qui est décent. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de devancer. |
Where the eye mixes décence and devance
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: décence vs devance
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décence is \de.sɑ̃s\ while devance is \də.vɑ̃s\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35313, 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\. devance is at rank #16,591, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɑ̃s\.
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 35313, this pair ranks #277,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décence vs devance
Shared letters: cden. Private to "décence": é. Private to "devance": av.
"décence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "devance" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- devance ← ddevance · deavnce · devacne · devancce · devanec · devannce · devnace · devvance
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décence" and "devance" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "décence" or "devance" show up more?
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 "décence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,645 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décence" and "devance" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décence vs décents". 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 #277,645 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.