Which to use
“désirer” and “désirez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,581
- “désirer” frequency rank
- #11,397
- “désirez” frequency rank
- 24978
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désirer | désirez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vouloir posséder un bien ou un avantage qu’on n’a pas. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désirer. |
Same sound, different letters: désirer vs désirez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. désirer and désirez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: désirer vs désirez
This is the hard kind. désirer and désirez are pronounced identically (\de.zi.ʁe\) 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 a single letter - r in “désirer” becomes z in “désirez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24978, 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\. désirez is at rank #11,397, tagged as averb, 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 24978, this pair ranks #343,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désirer vs désirez
Shared letters: deirsé. Private to "désirer": -. Private to "désirez": z.
"désirer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "désirez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désirer" for "désirez" ever safe?
Which is more common, "désirer" or "désirez"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "désirer" / "désirez". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "désirer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désirez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désirer" and "désirez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirer vs désister". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #343,479 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.