décrètevsdécritWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,554
“décrète” frequency rank
#2,516
“décrit” frequency rank
27070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décrète décrit
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de décréter. Dépeint, exprimé oralement ou par écrit.

Where the eye mixes décrète and décrit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. décrète runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against décrit's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
décrète
6 ch
décrit

Visual trap between décrète and décrit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décrète is \de.kʁɛt\ while décrit is \de.kʁi\. 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 27070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décrète is recorded at frequency rank #24,554, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kʁɛt\. décrit is at rank #2,516, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.kʁi\.

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 27070, this pair ranks #331,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décrète vs décrit

Shared letters: cdrté. Private to "décrète": eè. Private to "décrit": i.

"décrète" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "décrit" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "décrète" and "décrit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décrète" is a verb and "décrit" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "décrète" or "décrit" show up more?
"décrit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,516 in our French list, against #24,554 for "décrète". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "décrète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décrit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #331,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décrète" and "décrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décrète vs désuète". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #331,256 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