Which to use
“dépassent” and “dépasser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,476
- “dépassent” frequency rank
- #4,229
- “dépasser” frequency rank
- 13705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassent | dépasser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Aller au-delà de quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes dépassent and dépasser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against dépasser's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dépassent with dépasser
A purely visual mix-up. dépassent (\de.pas\) and dépasser (\de.pɑ.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassent is recorded at frequency rank #9,476, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pas\. 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 13705, this pair ranks #399,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépassent vs dépasser
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépassent": nt. Private to "dépasser": r.
"dépassent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "dépasser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassent" for "dépasser" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dépassent" or "dépasser" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassent" 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 #399,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassent" and "dépasser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassent vs déplaisent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #399,877 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.