Which to use
“décès” and “duchés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,037
- “décès” frequency rank
- #39,757
- “duchés” frequency rank
- 41794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décès | duchés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mort naturelle d’une personne. | Pluriel de duché. |
Where the eye mixes décès and duchés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. décès runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against duchés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: décès vs duchés
A purely visual mix-up. décès (\de.sɛ\) and duchés (\dy.ʃe\) 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 41794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décès is recorded at frequency rank #2,037, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ\. duchés is at rank #39,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʃe\.
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 41794, this pair ranks #230,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décès vs duchés
Shared letters: cdsé. Private to "décès": è. Private to "duchés": hu.
"décès" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "duchés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décès" for "duchés" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "décès" or "duchés" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "décès" and "duchés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décès" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duchés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décès" and "duchés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs duchés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #230,441 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.