Which to use
“dépassée” is an adjective and “dépasser” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,606
- “dépassée” frequency rank
- #4,229
- “dépasser” frequency rank
- 20835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassée | dépasser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de dépassé. | Aller au-delà de quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes dépassée and dépasser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassée (CVCVCCVV) and dépasser (CVCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dépassée with dépasser
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépassée is \de.pa.se\ while dépasser is \de.pɑ.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassée is recorded at frequency rank #16,606, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.pa.se\. dépasser is at rank #4,229, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ.se\.
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 20835, this pair ranks #366,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépassée vs dépasser
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépassée": -. Private to "dépasser": r.
"dépassée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "dépasser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépassée" and "dépasser" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "dépassée" or "dépasser" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dépassée" and "dépasser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépasser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassée" and "dépasser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassée vs dépasses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #366,241 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.