Which to use
“descendons” and “descends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,693
- “descendons” frequency rank
- #19,255
- “descends” frequency rank
- 65948
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | descendons | descends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de descendre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre. |
Where the eye mixes descendons and descends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. descendons runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against descends's 8 (CVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses descendons with descends
A purely visual mix-up. descendons (\dɛ.sɑ̃.dɔ̃\) and descends (\dɛ.sɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
descendons is recorded at frequency rank #46,693, classified as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃.dɔ̃\. 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 65948, this pair ranks #70,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of descendons vs descends
Shared letters: cdens. Private to "descendons": o. Private to "descends": -.
"descendons" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "descends" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- descendons ← ddescendons · decsendons · desccendons · descednons · descenddons · descendnos · descendonns · descendonss
- descends ← ddescends · decsends · desccends · descedns · descendds · descendss · descennds · descensd
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "descendons" for "descends" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "descendons" or "descends" show up more?
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 "descendons" 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 #70,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "descendons" and "descends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défendons vs descendons". 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 #70,036 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.