décidezvsdécrivezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“décidez” and “décrivez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,996
“décidez” frequency rank
#36,359
“décrivez” frequency rank
55355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décidez décrivez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décider. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décrire.

Where the eye mixes décidez and décrivez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décidez runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against décrivez's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
décidez
8 ch
décrivez

Why the eye confuses décidez with décrivez

A purely visual mix-up. décidez (\de.si.de\) and décrivez (\de.kʁi.ve\) 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 55355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décidez is recorded at frequency rank #18,996, classified as averb, pronounced \de.si.de\. décrivez is at rank #36,359, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁi.ve\.

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 55355, this pair ranks #127,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décidez vs décrivez

Shared letters: cdeizé. Private to "décidez": -. Private to "décrivez": rv.

"décidez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "décrivez" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décidez" for "décrivez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.si.de\ versus \de.kʁi.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décidez" vs "décrivez" - which ranks higher?
"décidez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,996 in our French list, against #36,359 for "décrivez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décidez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décrivez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décidez" and "décrivez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décriée vs décrivez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #127,983 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list