Which to use
“descendons” and “descendus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,693
- “descendons” frequency rank
- #22,539
- “descendus” frequency rank
- 69232
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | descendons | descendus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de descendre. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de descendre. |
Where the eye mixes descendons and descendus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. descendons runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVCC) against descendus's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses descendons with descendus
A purely visual mix-up. descendons (\dɛ.sɑ̃.dɔ̃\) and descendus (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69232, 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\. descendus is at rank #22,539, 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 69232, this pair ranks #55,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of descendons vs descendus
Shared letters: cdens. Private to "descendons": o. Private to "descendus": u.
"descendons" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC · "descendus" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- descendons ← ddescendons · decsendons · desccendons · descednons · descenddons · descendnos · descendonns · descendonss
- descendus ← ddescendus · decsendus · desccendus · descednus · descenddus · descendsu · descenduss · descenndus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "descendons" for "descendus" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "descendons" or "descendus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "descendons" and "descendus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "descendons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "descendus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "descendons" and "descendus" 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 #55,964 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.