décidavsdécidesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,309
“décida” frequency rank
#18,995
“décides” frequency rank
28304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décida décides
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de décider. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décider.

Where the eye mixes décida and décides

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décida runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against décides's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
décida
7 ch
décides

Visual trap between décida and décides

A purely visual mix-up. décida (\de.si.da\) and décides (\de.sid\) 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 28304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décida is recorded at frequency rank #9,309, classified as averb, pronounced \de.si.da\. décides is at rank #18,995, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.sid\.

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 28304, this pair ranks #323,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décida vs décides

Shared letters: cdié. Private to "décida": a. Private to "décides": es.

"décida" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "décides" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décida" and "décides" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.si.da\ versus \de.sid\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décida" or "décides" show up more?
"décida" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,309 in our French list, against #18,995 for "décides". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décida" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décides" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décida" and "décides" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décides vs déçues". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #323,672 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