Which to use
“dépassent” and “déplaisent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,476
- “dépassent” frequency rank
- #47,857
- “déplaisent” frequency rank
- 57333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassent | déplaisent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de déplaire. |
Where the eye mixes dépassent and déplaisent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dépassent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against déplaisent's 10 (CVCCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dépassent vs déplaisent
A purely visual mix-up. dépassent (\de.pas\) and déplaisent (\de.plɛz\) 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 57333, 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\. déplaisent is at rank #47,857, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.plɛz\.
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 57333, this pair ranks #115,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépassent vs déplaisent
Shared letters: adenpsté. Private to "dépassent": -. Private to "déplaisent": il.
"dépassent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "déplaisent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassent" for "déplaisent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dépassent" vs "déplaisent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépassent" and "déplaisent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déplaisent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassent" and "déplaisent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déplaisant vs déplaisent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #115,680 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.