décritesvsdensitésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: décrites is a adjective, densités is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#14,458
“décrites” frequency rank
#41,218
“densités” frequency rank
55676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décrites densités
Definition Féminin pluriel de décrit. Pluriel de densité.

Where the eye mixes décrites and densités

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. décrites and densités follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
décrites
8 ch
densités

Visual trap between décrites and densités

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: décrites is \de.kʁit\ while densités is \dɑ̃.si.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décrites is recorded at frequency rank #14,458, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.kʁit\. densités is at rank #41,218, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dɑ̃.si.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 55676, this pair ranks #125,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of décrites vs densités

Shared letters: deisté. Private to "décrites": cr. Private to "densités": n.

"décrites" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "densités" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "décrites" and "densités" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "décrites" is an adjective and "densités" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "décrites" or "densités" show up more?
"décrites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,458 in our French list, against #41,218 for "densités". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décrites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "densités" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décrites" and "densités" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "densités vs désires". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #125,941 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