décevantevsdécevantsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,187
“décevante” frequency rank
#34,509
“décevants” frequency rank
58696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décevante décevants
Definition Féminin singulier de décevant. Masculin pluriel de décevant.

Where the eye mixes décevante and décevants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. décevante (CVCVCVCCV) and décevants (CVCVCVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
décevante
9 ch
décevants

Visual trap between décevante and décevants

A purely visual mix-up. décevante (\de.sə.vɑ̃t\) and décevants (\de.sə.vɑ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “décevante” becomes s in “décevants”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décevante is recorded at frequency rank #24,187, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.sə.vɑ̃t\. décevants is at rank #34,509, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.sə.vɑ̃\.

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 58696, this pair ranks #107,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décevante vs décevants

Shared letters: acdentvé. Private to "décevante": -. Private to "décevants": s.

"décevante" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "décevants" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décevante" for "décevants" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.sə.vɑ̃t\ versus \de.sə.vɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "décevante" or "décevants"?
"décevante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,187 in our French list, against #34,509 for "décevants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "décevante" and "décevants" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décevante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décevants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décevante" and "décevants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décents vs décevants". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #107,484 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