Which to use
“désigne” and “désignent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,935
- “désigne” frequency rank
- #18,731
- “désignent” frequency rank
- 23666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désigne | désignent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de désigner. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désigner. |
Same sound, different letters: désigne vs désignent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. désigne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against désignent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: désigne vs désignent
This is the hard kind. désigne and désignent are pronounced identically (\de.ziɲ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “désigne” sits inside “désignent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désigne is recorded at frequency rank #4,935, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ziɲ\. désignent is at rank #18,731, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ziɲ\.
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 23666, this pair ranks #351,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désigne vs désignent
Shared letters: deginsé. Private to "désigne": -. Private to "désignent": t.
"désigne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "désignent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désigne" and "désignent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "désigne" or "désignent" show up more?
Useful next steps
"désigne" and "désignent" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "désigne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désignent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #351,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désigne" and "désignent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désignent vs désignera". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #351,135 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.