Which to use
“decide” and “décident” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,555
- “decide” frequency rank
- #6,605
- “décident” frequency rank
- 37160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decide | décident |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Décider. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décider. |
Where the eye mixes decide and décident
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. decide runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against décident's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: decide vs décident
A purely visual mix-up. decide (\dɪˈsɑɪd\) and décident (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decide is recorded at frequency rank #30,555, classified as averb, pronounced \dɪˈsɑɪd\. décident is at rank #6,605, 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 37160, this pair ranks #264,457 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decide vs décident
Shared letters: cdei. Private to "decide": -. Private to "décident": nté.
"decide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décident" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- decide ← dceide · ddecide · deccide · decdie · decidde · decied · deicde · edcide
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "decide" and "décident" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "decide" vs "décident" - which ranks higher?
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 "decide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décident" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,457 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decide" and "décident" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs decide". 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 #264,457 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.