Which to use
“descende” and “descendu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,440
- “descende” frequency rank
- #10,484
- “descendu” frequency rank
- 41924
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | descende | descendu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de descendre. | Participe passé masculin singulier de descendre. |
Where the eye mixes descende and descendu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descende and descendu follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses descende with descendu
A purely visual mix-up. descende (\dɛ.sɑ̃d\) and descendu (\dɛ.sɑ̃.dy\) 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 - e in “descende” becomes u in “descendu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
descende is recorded at frequency rank #31,440, classified as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃d\. descendu is at rank #10,484, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃.dy\.
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 41924, this pair ranks #229,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of descende vs descendu
Shared letters: cdens. Private to "descende": -. Private to "descendu": u.
"descende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "descendu" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "descende" and "descendu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "descende" or "descendu"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "descende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "descendu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "descende" and "descendu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descende vs descendra". 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 #229,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.