Which to use
“dèche” and “deco” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,607
- “dèche” frequency rank
- #26,324
- “deco” frequency rank
- 75931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dèche | deco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Misère, gêne financière. | Décence. |
Where the eye mixes dèche and deco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dèche with deco
A purely visual mix-up. dèche (\dɛʃ\) and deco (\ˈdɛ.ʦɔ\) 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 75931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dèche is recorded at frequency rank #49,607, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛʃ\. deco is at rank #26,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈdɛ.ʦɔ\.
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 75931, this pair ranks #32,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dèche vs deco
Shared letters: cde. Private to "dèche": hè. Private to "deco": o.
"dèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "deco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- deco ← dceo · ddeco · decco · deoc · edco
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dèche" and "deco" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "dèche" or "deco" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dèche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dèche" and "deco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". 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 #32,567 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.