Which to use
“décidée” is an adjective and “décimée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,142
- “décidée” frequency rank
- #42,299
- “décimée” frequency rank
- 52441
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décidée | décimée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de décidé. | Participe passé féminin singulier de décimer. |
Where the eye mixes décidée and décimée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décidée and décimée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses décidée with décimée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décidée is \de.si.de\ while décimée is \de.si.me\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “décidée” becomes m in “décimée”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décidée is recorded at frequency rank #10,142, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.si.de\. décimée is at rank #42,299, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.me\.
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 52441, this pair ranks #147,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décidée vs décimée
Shared letters: cdeié. Private to "décidée": -. Private to "décimée": m.
"décidée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "décimée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "décidée" for "décimée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "décidée" or "décimée" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "décidée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décimée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décidée" and "décimée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décimale vs décimée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #147,689 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.