densesvsdénuésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,166
“denses” frequency rank
#42,844
“dénués” frequency rank
61010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denses dénués
Definition Pluriel de dense. Masculin pluriel de dénué.

Where the eye mixes denses and dénués

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. denses (CVCCVC) and dénués (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
denses
6 ch
dénués

Look-alike desk: denses vs dénués

A purely visual mix-up. denses (\dɑ̃s\) and dénués (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61010, 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\. dénués is at rank #42,844, 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 61010, this pair ranks #94,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of denses vs dénués

Shared letters: dns. Private to "denses": e. Private to "dénués": ué.

"denses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dénués" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denses ← ddenses · deness · dennses · densess · densses · desnes · dneses · ednses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "denses" and "dénués" be used interchangeably?
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 "dénués"?
"denses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,166 in our French list, against #42,844 for "dénués". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "denses" and "dénués" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dénués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denses" and "dénués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déçues vs dénués". 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 #94,546 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