décodervsdécodeursWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: décoder is a verb, décodeurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décoder” is a verb and “décodeurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,230
“décoder” frequency rank
#43,900
“décodeurs” frequency rank
77130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décoder décodeurs
Definition Déchiffrer ce qui est codé. Pluriel de décodeur.

Where the eye mixes décoder and décodeurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. décoder runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against décodeurs's 9 (CVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
décoder
9 ch
décodeurs

Visual trap between décoder and décodeurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décoder is \de.kɔ.de\ while décodeurs is \de.kɔ.dœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 77130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décoder is recorded at frequency rank #33,230, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kɔ.de\. décodeurs is at rank #43,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.kɔ.dœʁ\.

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 77130, this pair ranks #29,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décoder vs décodeurs

Shared letters: cdeoré. Private to "décoder": -. Private to "décodeurs": su.

"décoder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "décodeurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décoder" for "décodeurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décoder" is a verb and "décodeurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "décoder" or "décodeurs"?
"décoder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,230 in our French list, against #43,900 for "décodeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "décoder" and "décodeurs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décoder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décodeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décoder" and "décodeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décideur vs décodeurs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,233 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