décidesvsdocilesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: décides is a verb, dociles is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#18,995
“décides” frequency rank
#40,716
“dociles” frequency rank
59711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décides dociles
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décider. Pluriel de docile.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set décides and dociles apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
décides
7 ch
dociles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décides is \de.sid\ while dociles is \dɔ.sil\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décides is recorded at frequency rank #18,995, classified as averb, pronounced \de.sid\. dociles is at rank #40,716, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɔ.sil\.

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 59711, this pair ranks #101,607 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décides vs dociles

Shared letters: cdeis. Private to "décides": é. Private to "dociles": lo.

"décides" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "dociles" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • docilesdcoiles · ddociles · docciles · dociels · dociless · docilles · docilse · doclies

Frequency comparison

décides#18,995
dociles#40,716

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décides" and "dociles" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décides" is a verb and "dociles" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "décides" or "dociles"?
"décides" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,995 in our French list, against #40,716 for "dociles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering décides vs dociles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “décides”; for an adjective, it's “dociles”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “décides” 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