Which to use
“depend” and “détend” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,692
- “depend” frequency rank
- #21,607
- “détend” frequency rank
- 48299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | depend | détend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Suivi de on ou de upon, et plus anciennement de of) Dépendre (de). | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de détendre. |
Where the eye mixes depend and détend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: depend vs détend
A purely visual mix-up. depend (\dɪˈpɛnd\) and détend (\de.tɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48299, 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\. détend is at rank #21,607, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.tɑ̃\.
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 48299, this pair ranks #180,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of depend vs détend
Shared letters: den. Private to "depend": p. Private to "détend": té.
"depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "détend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- depend ← ddepend · deepnd · depedn · dependd · depennd · depned · deppend · dpeend
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "depend" and "détend" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "depend" or "détend"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "détend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "depend" and "détend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "détend 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 #180,002 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.