décidéevsdéclinéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: décidée is a adjective, déclinée is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décidée” is an adjective and “déclinée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,142
“décidée” frequency rank
#37,289
“déclinée” frequency rank
47431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décidée déclinée
Definition Féminin singulier de décidé. Participe passé féminin singulier de décliner.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décidée and déclinée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
décidée
8 ch
déclinée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décidée is \de.si.de\ while déclinée is \de.kli.ne\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47431, 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\. déclinée is at rank #37,289, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kli.ne\.

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 47431, this pair ranks #187,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décidée vs déclinée

Shared letters: cdeié. Private to "décidée": -. Private to "déclinée": ln.

"décidée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "déclinée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Frequency comparison

décidée#10,142
déclinée#37,289

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décidée" and "déclinée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décidée" is an adjective and "déclinée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "décidée" or "déclinée"?
"décidée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,142 in our French list, against #37,289 for "déclinée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décidée vs déclinée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “décidée”; for a verb, it's “déclinée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décidée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list