Which to use
“désirent” and “désires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,775
- “désirent” frequency rank
- #37,301
- “désires” frequency rank
- 51076
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désirent | désires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désirer. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de désirer. |
Same sound, different letters: désirent vs désires
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. désirent runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against désires's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - désirent / désires
This is the hard kind. désirent and désires are pronounced identically (\de.ziʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51076, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désirent is recorded at frequency rank #13,775, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ziʁ\. désires is at rank #37,301, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ziʁ\.
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 51076, this pair ranks #157,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désirent vs désires
Shared letters: deirsé. Private to "désirent": nt. Private to "désires": -.
"désirent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "désires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "désirent" and "désires" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "désirent" or "désires" show up more?
What to do next
"désirent" and "désires" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "désirent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désirent" and "désires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirées vs désires". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #157,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.