Which to use
“descend” and “descends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,858
- “descend” frequency rank
- #19,255
- “descends” frequency rank
- 25113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | descend | descends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre. |
Same sound, different letters: descend vs descends
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. descend runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against descends's 8 (CVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - descend / descends
This is the hard kind. descend and descends are pronounced identically (\dɛ.sɑ̃\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “descend” sits inside “descends”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
descend is recorded at frequency rank #5,858, classified as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃\. descends is at rank #19,255, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃\.
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 25113, this pair ranks #342,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of descend vs descends
Shared letters: cdens. Private to "descend": -. Private to "descends": -.
"descend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "descends" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "descend" and "descends" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "descend" vs "descends" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "descend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "descends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,732 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "descend" and "descends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décents vs descends". 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 #342,732 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.