Which to use
“depend” and “dépends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,692
- “depend” frequency rank
- #27,416
- “dépends” frequency rank
- 54108
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | depend | dépends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Suivi de on ou de upon, et plus anciennement de of) Dépendre (de). | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de dépendre. |
Where the eye mixes depend and dépends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses depend with dépends
A purely visual mix-up. depend (\dɪˈpɛnd\) and dépends (\de.pɑ̃\) 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 54108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
depend is recorded at frequency rank #26,692, classified as averb, pronounced \dɪˈpɛnd\. dépends is at rank #27,416, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃\.
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 54108, this pair ranks #136,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of depend vs dépends
Shared letters: denp. Private to "depend": -. Private to "dépends": sé.
"depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "dépends" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- depend ← ddepend · deepnd · depedn · dependd · depennd · depned · deppend · dpeend
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "depend" for "dépends" ever safe?
Frequency check: "depend" vs "dépends" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "depend" and "dépends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépends vs détendus". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #136,236 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.