Which to use
“dépasser” and “dépasses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,229
- “dépasser” frequency rank
- #46,131
- “dépasses” frequency rank
- 50360
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépasser | dépasses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aller au-delà de quelque chose. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépasser and dépasses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépasser and dépasses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between dépasser and dépasses
A purely visual mix-up. dépasser (\de.pɑ.se\) and dépasses (\de.pas\) 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 a single letter - r in “dépasser” becomes s in “dépasses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50360, 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\. 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 50360, this pair ranks #163,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépasser vs dépasses
Shared letters: adepsé. Private to "dépasser": r. Private to "dépasses": -.
"dépasser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "dépasses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépasser" and "dépasses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dépasser" or "dépasses" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "dépasses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépasser" and "dépasses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassera vs dépasses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #163,242 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.