Which to use
“dèche” is a noun and “déçus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,607
- “dèche” frequency rank
- #11,572
- “déçus” frequency rank
- 61179
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dèche | déçus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Misère, gêne financière. | Masculin pluriel de déçu. |
Where the eye mixes dèche and déçus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dèche with déçus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dèche is \dɛʃ\ while déçus is \de.sy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61179, 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\. déçus is at rank #11,572, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.sy\.
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 61179, this pair ranks #93,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dèche vs déçus
Shared letters: d. Private to "dèche": cehè. Private to "déçus": suçé.
"dèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "déçus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dèche" and "déçus" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dèche" or "déçus"?
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 "déçus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dèche" and "déçus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #93,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.