Which to use
“décente” is an adjective and “descentes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,734
- “décente” frequency rank
- #24,538
- “descentes” frequency rank
- 54272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décente | descentes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de décent. | Pluriel de descente. |
Same sound, different letters: décente vs descentes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - décente / descentes
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: décente and descentes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.sɑ̃t\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54272, 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\. descentes is at rank #24,538, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sɑ̃t\.
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 54272, this pair ranks #135,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décente vs descentes
Shared letters: cdent. Private to "décente": é. Private to "descentes": s.
"décente" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "descentes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- descentes ← ddescentes · decsentes · desccentes · descenets · descenntes · descentess · descentse · descenttes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décente" and "descentes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "décente" or "descentes" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "décente" / "descentes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "décente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "descentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décente" and "descentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décente 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 #135,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.