déçuesvsdensesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,735
“déçues” frequency rank
#18,166
“denses” frequency rank
64901
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déçues denses
Definition Féminin pluriel de déçu. Pluriel de dense.

Where the eye mixes déçues and denses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. déçues (CVCVVC) and denses (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
déçues
6 ch
denses

Look-alike desk: déçues vs denses

A purely visual mix-up. déçues (\de.sy\) and denses (\dɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déçues is recorded at frequency rank #46,735, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.sy\. denses is at rank #18,166, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɑ̃s\.

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 64901, this pair ranks #74,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déçues vs denses

Shared letters: des. Private to "déçues": uçé. Private to "denses": n.

"déçues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "denses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denses ← ddenses · deness · dennses · densess · densses · desnes · dneses · ednses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déçues" for "denses" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.sy\ versus \dɑ̃s\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "déçues" or "denses"?
"denses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,166 in our French list, against #46,735 for "déçues". 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 "déçues" and "denses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déçues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déçues" and "denses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs déçues". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #74,809 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