Which to use
“dégradées” is an adjective and “dégrader” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,657
- “dégradées” frequency rank
- #17,686
- “dégrader” frequency rank
- 51343
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégradées | dégrader |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de dégradé. | Dépouiller, destituer quelqu’un d’une manière infamante de son grade, de sa dignité, de son emploi, etc. |
Same sound, different letters: dégradées vs dégrader
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dégradées runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against dégrader's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - dégradées / dégrader
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dégradées and dégrader carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.ɡʁa.de\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégradées is recorded at frequency rank #33,657, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ɡʁa.de\. dégrader is at rank #17,686, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ɡʁa.de\.
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 51343, this pair ranks #155,756 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégradées vs dégrader
Shared letters: adegré. Private to "dégradées": s. Private to "dégrader": -.
"dégradées" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "dégrader" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dégradées" for "dégrader" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dégradées" or "dégrader" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégradées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dégrader" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,756 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégradées" and "dégrader" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dégradées vs dégradent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #155,756 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.