Which to use
“dépassées” is an adjective and “dépasses” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,580
- “dépassées” frequency rank
- #46,131
- “dépasses” frequency rank
- 76711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassées | dépasses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de dépassé. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépassées and dépasses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dépassées runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against dépasses's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dépassées with dépasses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépassées is \de.pa.se\ while dépasses is \de.pas\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassées is recorded at frequency rank #30,580, 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 76711, this pair ranks #30,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépassées vs dépasses
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépassées": -. Private to "dépasses": -.
"dépassées" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dépasses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépassées" and "dépasses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dépassées" vs "dépasses" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassées" 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 #30,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassées" and "dépasses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "délaissées vs dépassées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #30,365 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.