Which to use
“descends” and “descendue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,255
- “descends” frequency rank
- #24,173
- “descendue” frequency rank
- 43428
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | descends | descendue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de descendre. | Participe passé féminin singulier de descendre. |
Where the eye mixes descends and descendue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descends runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCC) against descendue's 9 (CVCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses descends with descendue
A purely visual mix-up. descends (\dɛ.sɑ̃\) and descendue (\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 43428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
descends is recorded at frequency rank #19,255, classified as averb, pronounced \dɛ.sɑ̃\. descendue is at rank #24,173, 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 43428, this pair ranks #218,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of descends vs descendue
Shared letters: cdens. Private to "descends": -. Private to "descendue": u.
"descends" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC · "descendue" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "descends" for "descendue" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "descends" or "descendue" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "descends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "descendue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #218,133 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "descends" and "descendue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descendra vs descendue". 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 #218,133 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.