déçoitvsdécrisTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#23,529
“déçoit” frequency rank
#24,189
“décris” frequency rank
47718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déçoit décris
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décevoir. Pluriel de décri.

Where the eye mixes déçoit and décris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. déçoit (CVCVVC) and décris (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
déçoit
6 ch
décris

Look-alike desk: déçoit vs décris

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déçoit is \de.swa\ while décris is \de.kʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déçoit is recorded at frequency rank #23,529, classified as averb, pronounced \de.swa\. décris is at rank #24,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.kʁi\.

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 47718, this pair ranks #184,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déçoit vs décris

Shared letters: dié. Private to "déçoit": otç. Private to "décris": crs.

"déçoit" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "décris" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déçoit" for "décris" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déçoit" is a verb and "décris" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "déçoit" vs "décris" - which ranks higher?
"déçoit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,529 in our French list, against #24,189 for "décris". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déçoit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #184,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déçoit" and "décris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déçoit vs démolit". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #184,714 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