dépassement vs dépassements

Which to use

“dépassement” and “dépassements” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,557
“dépassement” frequency rank: #29,332
“dépassements” frequency rank: 41889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dépassement	dépassements
Definition	Action de dépasser et spécialement d’outrepasser.	Pluriel de dépassement.

Same sound, different letters: dépassement vs dépassements

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. dépassement runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCVCC) against dépassements's 12 (CVCVCCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch

dépassement

12 ch

dépassements

Ear matches; page differs - dépassement and dépassements

This is the hard kind. dépassement and dépassements are pronounced identically (\de.pas.mɑ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “dépassement” sits inside “dépassements”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépassement is recorded at frequency rank #12,557, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pas.mɑ̃\. dépassements is at rank #29,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.pas.mɑ̃\.

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 41889, this pair ranks #229,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dépassement vs dépassements

Shared letters: ademnpsté. Private to "dépassement": -. Private to "dépassements": -.

"dépassement" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC · "dépassements" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dépassement" for "dépassements" ever safe?

No. They are pronounced the same (\de.pas.mɑ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "dépassement" or "dépassements"?

"dépassement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,557 in our French list, against #29,332 for "dépassements". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

Full dictionary entry for "dépassement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "dépassements" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #229,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dépassement" and "dépassements" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassements vs dépaysement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.