décoréevsdécoupéeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,179
“décorée” frequency rank
#29,326
“découpée” frequency rank
47505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décorée découpée
Definition Féminin singulier de décoré. Féminin singulier de découpé.

Where the eye mixes décorée and découpée

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

7 ch
décorée
8 ch
découpée

Why the eye confuses décorée with découpée

A purely visual mix-up. décorée (\de.kɔ.ʁe\) and découpée (\de.ku.pe\) 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 47505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décorée is recorded at frequency rank #18,179, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʁe\. découpée is at rank #29,326, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.ku.pe\.

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 47505, this pair ranks #186,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décorée vs découpée

Shared letters: cdeoé. Private to "décorée": r. Private to "découpée": pu.

"décorée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "découpée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décorée" and "découpée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.kɔ.ʁe\ versus \de.ku.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décorée" vs "découpée" - which ranks higher?
"décorée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,179 in our French list, against #29,326 for "découpée". 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 "décorée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "découpée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décorée" and "découpée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découpée vs dégoûtée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #186,438 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