Which to use
“désirer” and “désires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,581
- “désirer” frequency rank
- #37,301
- “désires” frequency rank
- 50882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désirer | désires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vouloir posséder un bien ou un avantage qu’on n’a pas. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de désirer. |
Where the eye mixes désirer and désires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. désirer and désires follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between désirer and désires
A purely visual mix-up. désirer (\de.zi.ʁe\) and désires (\de.ziʁ\) 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 a single letter - r in “désirer” becomes s in “désires”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désirer is recorded at frequency rank #13,581, classified as averb, pronounced \de.zi.ʁe\. 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 50882, this pair ranks #159,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désirer vs désires
Shared letters: deirsé. Private to "désirer": -. Private to "désires": -.
"désirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "désires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désirer" for "désires" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "désirer" or "désires" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "désirer" and "désires" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "désirer" 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 #159,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désirer" and "désires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirées vs désires". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #159,212 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.