décernevsdéverséWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: décerne is a verb, déversé is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décerne” is a verb and “déversé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,068
“décerne” frequency rank
#44,440
“déversé” frequency rank
78508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décerne déversé
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décerner. Qui est penché d’un côté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décerne and déversé apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
décerne
7 ch
déversé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décerne is \de.sɛʁn\ while déversé is \de.vɛʁ.se\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décerne is recorded at frequency rank #34,068, classified as averb, pronounced \de.sɛʁn\. déversé is at rank #44,440, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.vɛʁ.se\.

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 78508, this pair ranks #25,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décerne vs déversé

Shared letters: deré. Private to "décerne": cn. Private to "déversé": sv.

"décerne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "déversé" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Frequency comparison

décerne#34,068
déversé#44,440

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décerne" and "déversé" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décerne" is a verb and "déversé" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "décerne" or "déversé"?
"décerne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,068 in our French list, against #44,440 for "déversé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décerne vs déversé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “décerne”; for an adjective, it's “déversé”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décerne” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list