décentevsdémentieWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,734
“décente” frequency rank
#34,997
“démentie” frequency rank
64731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décente démentie
Definition Féminin singulier de décent. Féminin singulier de démenti.

Where the eye mixes décente and démentie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décente runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against démentie's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
décente
8 ch
démentie

Why the eye confuses décente with démentie

A purely visual mix-up. décente (\de.sɑ̃t\) and démentie (\de.mɑ̃.ti\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décente is recorded at frequency rank #29,734, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.sɑ̃t\. démentie is at rank #34,997, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.mɑ̃.ti\.

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 64731, this pair ranks #75,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décente vs démentie

Shared letters: denté. Private to "décente": c. Private to "démentie": im.

"décente" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "démentie" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décente" and "démentie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.sɑ̃t\ versus \de.mɑ̃.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décente" vs "démentie" - which ranks higher?
"décente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,734 in our French list, against #34,997 for "démentie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "démentie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décente" and "démentie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démentie vs démettre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,618 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