Which to use
“décorée” is an adjective and “décrète” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,179
- “décorée” frequency rank
- #24,554
- “décrète” frequency rank
- 42733
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décorée | décrète |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de décoré. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décréter. |
Where the eye mixes décorée and décrète
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décorée (CVCVCVV) and décrète (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: décorée vs décrète
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décorée is \de.kɔ.ʁe\ while décrète is \de.kʁɛt\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42733, 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\. décrète is at rank #24,554, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁɛt\.
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 42733, this pair ranks #223,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décorée vs décrète
Shared letters: cderé. Private to "décorée": o. Private to "décrète": tè.
"décorée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "décrète" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décorée" and "décrète" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "décorée" or "décrète" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "décrète" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décorée" and "décrète" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décrète vs désuète". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #223,346 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.