désignésvsdésiréesTell them apart

Which to use

“désignés” and “désirées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,571
“désignés” frequency rank
#46,732
“désirées” frequency rank
58303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désignés désirées
Definition Masculin pluriel de désigné. Féminin pluriel de désiré.

Where the eye mixes désignés and désirées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. désignés (CVCVCCVC) and désirées (CVCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
désignés
8 ch
désirées

Visual trap between désignés and désirées

A purely visual mix-up. désignés (\de.zi.ɲe\) and désirées (\de.zi.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désignés is recorded at frequency rank #11,571, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.zi.ɲe\. désirées is at rank #46,732, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.zi.ʁe\.

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 58303, this pair ranks #109,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of désignés vs désirées

Shared letters: disé. Private to "désignés": gn. Private to "désirées": er.

"désignés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "désirées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "désignés" and "désirées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.zi.ɲe\ versus \de.zi.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "désignés" vs "désirées" - which ranks higher?
"désignés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,571 in our French list, against #46,732 for "désirées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "désignés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "désirées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "désignés" and "désirées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirées vs désireuses". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #109,857 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list