décodervsdéjouerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,230
“décoder” frequency rank
#22,548
“déjouer” frequency rank
55778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décoder déjouer
Definition Déchiffrer ce qui est codé. Faire échouer le jeu de quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes décoder and déjouer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
décoder
7 ch
déjouer

Look-alike desk: décoder vs déjouer

A purely visual mix-up. décoder (\de.kɔ.de\) and déjouer (\de.ʒwe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55778, 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\. déjouer is at rank #22,548, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʒwe\.

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 55778, this pair ranks #125,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décoder vs déjouer

Shared letters: deoré. Private to "décoder": c. Private to "déjouer": ju.

"décoder" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "déjouer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décoder" and "déjouer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔ.de\ versus \de.ʒwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décoder" or "déjouer" show up more?
"déjouer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,548 in our French list, against #33,230 for "décoder". 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 "déjouer" 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 "déjouer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,301 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décoder" and "déjouer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décocher vs décoder". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #125,301 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