Which to use
“dégénérer” is a verb and “dégénérés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,785
- “dégénérer” frequency rank
- #29,741
- “dégénérés” frequency rank
- 57526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégénérer | dégénérés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Perdre les qualités naturelles de sa race, de son espèce. | Masculin pluriel de dégénéré. |
Same sound, different letters: dégénérer vs dégénérés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dégénérer and dégénérés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - dégénérer and dégénérés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dégénérer and dégénérés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ʒe.ne.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégénérer is recorded at frequency rank #27,785, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʒe.ne.ʁe\. dégénérés is at rank #29,741, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.ʒe.ne.ʁe\.
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 57526, this pair ranks #114,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégénérer vs dégénérés
Shared letters: dgnré. Private to "dégénérer": e. Private to "dégénérés": s.
"dégénérer" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC · "dégénérés" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dégénérer" and "dégénérés" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dégénérer" or "dégénérés"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "dégénérer" / "dégénérés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégénérer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dégénérés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégénérer" and "dégénérés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dégénérée vs dégénérés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #114,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.