déçuesvsduesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,735
“déçues” frequency rank
#8,532
“dues” frequency rank
55267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déçues dues
Definition Féminin pluriel de déçu. Féminin pluriel de dû.

Where the eye mixes déçues and dues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. déçues runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against dues's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
déçues
4 ch
dues

Look-alike desk: déçues vs dues

A purely visual mix-up. déçues (\de.sy\) and dues (\dy\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55267, 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\. dues is at rank #8,532, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dy\.

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 55267, this pair ranks #128,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déçues vs dues

Shared letters: desu. Private to "déçues": çé. Private to "dues": -.

"déçues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "dues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dues ← ddues · duess · duse · udes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déçues" for "dues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.sy\ versus \dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "déçues" vs "dues" - which ranks higher?
"dues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,532 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 "dues" 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 "dues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déçues" and "dues" 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 #128,550 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