dénoncevsdénoncentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,419
“dénonce” frequency rank
#11,954
“dénoncent” frequency rank
16373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dénonce dénoncent
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dénoncer. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dénoncer.

Same sound, different letters: dénonce vs dénoncent

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dénonce runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against dénoncent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
dénonce
9 ch
dénoncent

Homophone desk: dénonce vs dénoncent

This is the hard kind. dénonce and dénoncent are pronounced identically (\de.nɔ̃s\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dénonce” sits inside “dénoncent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dénonce is recorded at frequency rank #4,419, classified as averb, pronounced \de.nɔ̃s\. dénoncent is at rank #11,954, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.nɔ̃s\.

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 16373, this pair ranks #388,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dénonce vs dénoncent

Shared letters: cdenoé. Private to "dénonce": -. Private to "dénoncent": t.

"dénonce" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "dénoncent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dénonce" and "dénoncent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.nɔ̃s\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "dénonce" vs "dénoncent" - which ranks higher?
"dénonce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,419 in our French list, against #11,954 for "dénoncent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "dénonce" / "dénoncent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dénonce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dénoncent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dénonce" and "dénoncent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dénoncées vs dénoncent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #388,124 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