Which to use
“dépassée” is an adjective and “dépasses” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,606
- “dépassée” frequency rank
- #46,131
- “dépasses” frequency rank
- 62737
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassée | dépasses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de dépassé. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépassée and dépasses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassée (CVCVCCVV) and dépasses (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 dépasses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépassée is \de.pa.se\ while dépasses is \de.pas\. 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 62737, 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\. dépasses is at rank #46,131, 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 62737, this pair ranks #85,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépassée vs dépasses
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépassée": -. Private to "dépasses": -.
"dépassée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "dépasses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassée" for "dépasses" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dépassée" vs "dépasses" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépasses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,571 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassée" and "dépasses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassera vs dépasses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #85,571 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.