décritvsdécriteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“décrit” and “décrite” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,516
“décrit” frequency rank
#9,645
“décrite” frequency rank
12161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décrit décrite
Definition Dépeint, exprimé oralement ou par écrit. Féminin singulier de décrit.

Where the eye mixes décrit and décrite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
décrit
7 ch
décrite

Why the eye confuses décrit with décrite

A purely visual mix-up. décrit (\de.kʁi\) and décrite (\de.kʁit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “décrit” sits inside “décrite”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décrit is recorded at frequency rank #2,516, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.kʁi\. décrite is at rank #9,645, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.kʁit\.

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 12161, this pair ranks #406,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of décrit vs décrite

Shared letters: cdirté. Private to "décrit": -. Private to "décrite": e.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "décrit" for "décrite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.kʁi\ versus \de.kʁit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "décrit" or "décrite"?
"décrit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,516 in our French list, against #9,645 for "décrite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "décrit" and "décrite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décrit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décrite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #406,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décrit" and "décrite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décrite vs déduite". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #406,342 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