Which to use
“decide” is a verb and “demie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,555
- “decide” frequency rank
- #6,492
- “demie” frequency rank
- 37047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decide | demie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Décider. | Demi-heure. Note d’usage : On dit de une heure et demie à onze heures et demie, mais rarement les autres (sinon midi, ou minuit, et demi, qui ne sont plus de la même forme). |
Where the eye mixes decide and demie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses decide with demie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decide is \dɪˈsɑɪd\ while demie is \də.mi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37047, 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\. demie is at rank #6,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced \də.mi\.
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 37047, this pair ranks #265,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decide vs demie
Shared letters: dei. Private to "decide": c. Private to "demie": m.
"decide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "demie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "decide" and "demie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "decide" vs "demie" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "decide" and "demie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "decide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decide" and "demie" 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 #265,257 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.