Which to use
“decide” and “décrire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,555
- “decide” frequency rank
- #4,751
- “décrire” frequency rank
- 35306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decide | décrire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Décider. | Représenter, dépeindre dans son ensemble une personne, une chose, soit par écrit, soit de vive voix. |
Where the eye mixes decide and décrire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. decide runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against décrire's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: decide vs décrire
A purely visual mix-up. decide (\dɪˈsɑɪd\) and décrire (\de.kʁiʁ\) 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 35306, 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\. décrire is at rank #4,751, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁiʁ\.
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 35306, this pair ranks #277,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decide vs décrire
Shared letters: cdei. Private to "decide": -. Private to "décrire": ré.
"decide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décrire" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- decide ← dceide · ddecide · deccide · decdie · decidde · decied · deicde · edcide
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "decide" and "décrire" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "decide" vs "décrire" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "decide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décrire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #277,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decide" and "décrire" 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 #277,705 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.