densesvsdénuéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,166
“denses” frequency rank
#23,187
“dénué” frequency rank
41353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denses dénué
Definition Pluriel de dense. Qui est dépourvu du nécessaire.

Where the eye mixes denses and dénué

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

6 ch
denses
5 ch
dénué

Visual trap between denses and dénué

A purely visual mix-up. denses (\dɑ̃s\) and dénué (\de.nɥe\) 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 41353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denses is recorded at frequency rank #18,166, classified as anadj, pronounced \dɑ̃s\. dénué is at rank #23,187, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.nɥe\.

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 41353, this pair ranks #233,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of denses vs dénué

Shared letters: dn. Private to "denses": es. Private to "dénué": .

"denses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dénué" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • densesddenses · deness · dennses · densess · densses · desnes · dneses · ednses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "denses" for "dénué" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dɑ̃s\ versus \de.nɥe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "denses" or "dénué"?
"denses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,166 in our French list, against #23,187 for "dénué". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dénué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denses" and "dénué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs dénué". 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 #233,703 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