déchirévsdéchueWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,555
“déchiré” frequency rank
#42,837
“déchue” frequency rank
55392
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déchiré déchue
Definition Qui est séparé, coupé, découpé en plusieurs morceaux. Féminin singulier de déchu.

Where the eye mixes déchiré and déchue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. déchiré runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against déchue's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
déchiré
6 ch
déchue

Why the eye confuses déchiré with déchue

A purely visual mix-up. déchiré (\de.ʃi.ʁe\) and déchue (\de.ʃy\) 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 55392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déchiré is recorded at frequency rank #12,555, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ʃi.ʁe\. déchue is at rank #42,837, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.ʃy\.

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 55392, this pair ranks #127,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déchiré vs déchue

Shared letters: cdhé. Private to "déchiré": ir. Private to "déchue": eu.

"déchiré" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "déchue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déchiré" and "déchue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.ʃi.ʁe\ versus \de.ʃy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déchiré" or "déchue"?
"déchiré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,555 in our French list, against #42,837 for "déchue". 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 "déchiré" and "déchue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déchiré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déchue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déchiré" and "déchue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déchue". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #127,749 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