décorationsvsdérogationsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,953
“décorations” frequency rank
#26,340
“dérogations” frequency rank
39293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décorations dérogations
Definition Pluriel de décoration. Pluriel de dérogation.

Where the eye mixes décorations and dérogations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. décorations and dérogations follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
décorations
11 ch
dérogations

Look-alike desk: décorations vs dérogations

A purely visual mix-up. décorations (\de.kɔ.ʁa.sjɔ̃\) and dérogations (\de.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃\) 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 39293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décorations is recorded at frequency rank #12,953, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʁa.sjɔ̃\. dérogations is at rank #26,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃\.

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 39293, this pair ranks #249,091 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décorations vs dérogations

Shared letters: adinorsté. Private to "décorations": c. Private to "dérogations": g.

"décorations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC  ·  "dérogations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décorations" and "dérogations" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔ.ʁa.sjɔ̃\ versus \de.ʁɔ.ɡa.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "décorations" or "dérogations" show up more?
"décorations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,953 in our French list, against #26,340 for "dérogations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "décorations" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dérogations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,091 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décorations" and "dérogations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décorations vs déportations". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #249,091 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