dépasservsdépasseraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,229
“dépasser” frequency rank
#33,236
“dépassera” frequency rank
37465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépasser dépassera
Definition Aller au-delà de quelque chose. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de dépasser.

Where the eye mixes dépasser and dépassera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dépasser runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against dépassera's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
dépasser
9 ch
dépassera

Visual trap between dépasser and dépassera

A purely visual mix-up. dépasser (\de.pɑ.se\) and dépassera (\de.pa.sə.ʁa\) 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 extra letter(s) - “dépasser” sits inside “dépassera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépasser is recorded at frequency rank #4,229, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ.se\. dépassera is at rank #33,236, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pa.sə.ʁa\.

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 37465, this pair ranks #262,327 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dépasser vs dépassera

Shared letters: adeprsé. Private to "dépasser": -. Private to "dépassera": -.

"dépasser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "dépassera" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dépasser" and "dépassera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.pɑ.se\ versus \de.pa.sə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "dépasser" or "dépassera" show up more?
"dépasser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,229 in our French list, against #33,236 for "dépassera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dépasser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dépassera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,327 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dépasser" and "dépassera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassera vs dépasserait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #262,327 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list