Which to use
“découragé” is an adjective and “décourager” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,335
- “découragé” frequency rank
- #14,912
- “décourager” frequency rank
- 41247
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | découragé | décourager |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abattu, sans courage. | Dépourvoir de courage. |
Same sound, different letters: découragé vs décourager
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. découragé runs 9 letters (CVCVVCVCV) against décourager's 10 (CVCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: découragé vs décourager
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: découragé and décourager carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ku.ʁa.ʒe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
découragé is recorded at frequency rank #26,335, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ku.ʁa.ʒe\. décourager is at rank #14,912, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ku.ʁa.ʒe\.
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 41247, this pair ranks #234,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of découragé vs décourager
Shared letters: acdgorué. Private to "découragé": -. Private to "décourager": e.
"découragé" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCV · "décourager" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "découragé" for "décourager" ever safe?
Frequency check: "découragé" vs "décourager" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "découragé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décourager" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "découragé" and "décourager" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décodage vs découragé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #234,493 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.