Which to use
“décents” is an adjective and “dents” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,850
- “décents” frequency rank
- #2,313
- “dents” frequency rank
- 50163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décents | dents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de décent. | Pluriel de dent. |
Where the eye mixes décents and dents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décents runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against dents's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between décents and dents
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décents is \de.sɑ̃\ while dents is \dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décents is recorded at frequency rank #47,850, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.sɑ̃\. dents is at rank #2,313, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃\.
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 50163, this pair ranks #164,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décents vs dents
Shared letters: denst. Private to "décents": cé. Private to "dents": -.
"décents" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "dents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dents ← ddents · dennts · denst · dentss · dentts · detns · dnets · ednts
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décents" and "dents" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "décents" vs "dents" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "décents" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décents" and "dents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décents vs démentis". 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 #164,789 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.