décorsvsdéçusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: décors is a noun, déçus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décors” is a noun and “déçus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,382
“décors” frequency rank
#11,572
“déçus” frequency rank
19954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décors déçus
Definition Pluriel de décor. Masculin pluriel de déçu.

Where the eye mixes décors and déçus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
décors
5 ch
déçus

Look-alike desk: décors vs déçus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décors is \de.kɔʁ\ while déçus is \de.sy\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décors is recorded at frequency rank #8,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.kɔʁ\. déçus is at rank #11,572, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.sy\.

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 19954, this pair ranks #370,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of décors vs déçus

Shared letters: dsé. Private to "décors": cor. Private to "déçus": .

"décors" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "déçus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décors" for "déçus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décors" is a noun and "déçus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "décors" or "déçus" show up more?
"décors" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,382 in our French list, against #11,572 for "déçus". 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 "décors" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déçus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #370,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décors" and "déçus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #370,689 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