dèchevsdécoteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,607
“dèche” frequency rank
#41,242
“décote” frequency rank
90849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dèche décote
Definition Misère, gêne financière. Réduction de la cote, baisse de la valeur.

Where the eye mixes dèche and décote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dèche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against décote's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
dèche
6 ch
décote

Look-alike desk: dèche vs décote

A purely visual mix-up. dèche (\dɛʃ\) and décote (\de.kɔt\) 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 90849, 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\. décote is at rank #41,242, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.kɔt\.

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 90849, this pair ranks #4,410 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dèche vs décote

Shared letters: cde. Private to "dèche": hè. Private to "décote": oté.

"dèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "décote" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dèche" and "décote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dɛʃ\ versus \de.kɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dèche" vs "décote" - which ranks higher?
"décote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,242 in our French list, against #49,607 for "dèche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "décote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,410 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dèche" and "décote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,410 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