décretvsdécrétéeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: décret is a noun, décrétée is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“décret” is a noun and “décrétée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,669
“décret” frequency rank
#36,360
“décrétée” frequency rank
39029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décret décrétée
Definition Décision qui émane d’une autorité. Participe passé féminin singulier de décréter.

Where the eye mixes décret and décrétée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décret runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against décrétée's 8 (CVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
décret
8 ch
décrétée

Why the eye confuses décret with décrétée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décret is \de.kʁɛ\ while décrétée is \de.kʁe.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décret is recorded at frequency rank #2,669, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.kʁɛ\. décrétée is at rank #36,360, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁe.te\.

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 39029, this pair ranks #251,014 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décret vs décrétée

Shared letters: cderté. Private to "décret": -. Private to "décrétée": -.

"décret" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "décrétée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décret" and "décrétée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décret" is a noun and "décrétée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "décret" vs "décrétée" - which ranks higher?
"décret" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,669 in our French list, against #36,360 for "décrétée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "décret" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décrétée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #251,014 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décret" and "décrétée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décrétée vs décriée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #251,014 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