dépassant vs déplaisant, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dépassant” is a noun and “déplaisant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,146
“dépassant” frequency rank: #40,228
“déplaisant” frequency rank: 50374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dépassant	déplaisant
Definition	Ornement, garniture qui dépasse à dessein la partie du vêtement à laquelle elle est adaptée.	Qui déplaît ou qui est de nature à déplaire.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dépassant and déplaisant apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

dépassant

10 ch

déplaisant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépassant is \de.pa.sɑ̃\ while déplaisant is \de.plɛ.zɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépassant is recorded at frequency rank #10,146, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pa.sɑ̃\. déplaisant is at rank #40,228, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.plɛ.zɑ̃\.

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 50374, this pair ranks #163,134 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dépassant vs déplaisant

Shared letters: adnpsté. Private to "dépassant": -. Private to "déplaisant": il.

"dépassant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "déplaisant" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCC

Frequency comparison

dépassant#10,146

déplaisant#40,228

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dépassant" and "déplaisant" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dépassant" is a noun and "déplaisant" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dépassant" or "déplaisant"?

"dépassant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,146 in our French list, against #40,228 for "déplaisant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dépassant vs déplaisant

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dépassant”; for an adjective, it's “déplaisant”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dépassant” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable