Which to use
“dépasse” and “dépassent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,401
- “dépasse” frequency rank
- #9,476
- “dépassent” frequency rank
- 12877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépasse | dépassent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Same sound, different letters: dépasse vs dépassent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dépasse runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against dépassent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: dépasse vs dépassent
This is the hard kind. dépasse and dépassent are pronounced identically (\de.pas\) 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) - “dépasse” sits inside “dépassent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépasse is recorded at frequency rank #3,401, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pas\. dépassent is at rank #9,476, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pas\.
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 12877, this pair ranks #403,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépasse vs dépassent
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépasse": -. Private to "dépassent": nt.
"dépasse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "dépassent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépasse" and "dépassent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dépasse" vs "dépassent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"dépasse" and "dépassent" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépasse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépasse" and "dépassent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassent vs déplaisent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #403,382 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.