décorentvsdécorésWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: décorent is a verb, décorés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décorent” is a verb and “décorés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,459
“décorent” frequency rank
#23,523
“décorés” frequency rank
71982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décorent décorés
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décorer. Masculin pluriel de décoré.

Where the eye mixes décorent and décorés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décorent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against décorés's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
décorent
7 ch
décorés

Visual trap between décorent and décorés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décorent is \de.kɔʁ\ while décorés is \de.kɔ.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décorent is recorded at frequency rank #48,459, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kɔʁ\. décorés is at rank #23,523, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.kɔ.ʁe\.

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 71982, this pair ranks #45,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of décorent vs décorés

Shared letters: cdoré. Private to "décorent": ent. Private to "décorés": s.

"décorent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "décorés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décorent" for "décorés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décorent" is a verb and "décorés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "décorent" or "décorés"?
"décorés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,523 in our French list, against #48,459 for "décorent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décorent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décorés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décorent" and "décorés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décorent vs déforment". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,614 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