Which to use
“dégradent” and “dégrader” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,234
- “dégradent” frequency rank
- #17,686
- “dégrader” frequency rank
- 50920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dégradent | dégrader |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dégrader. | Dépouiller, destituer quelqu’un d’une manière infamante de son grade, de sa dignité, de son emploi, etc. |
Where the eye mixes dégradent and dégrader
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dégradent runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against dégrader's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dégradent and dégrader
A purely visual mix-up. dégradent (\de.ɡʁad\) and dégrader (\de.ɡʁa.de\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dégradent is recorded at frequency rank #33,234, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ɡʁad\. 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 50920, this pair ranks #158,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dégradent vs dégrader
Shared letters: adegré. Private to "dégradent": nt. Private to "dégrader": -.
"dégradent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "dégrader" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dégradent" for "dégrader" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dégradent" or "dégrader" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dégradent" 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 #158,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dégradent" and "dégrader" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décadent vs dégradent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #158,915 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.