Which to use
“dessein” and “desseins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,350
- “dessein” frequency rank
- #29,309
- “desseins” frequency rank
- 44659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dessein | desseins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intention d’exécuter quelque chose, projet. | Pluriel de dessein. |
Same sound, different letters: dessein vs desseins
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. dessein runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against desseins's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - dessein and desseins
This is the hard kind. dessein and desseins are pronounced identically (\de.sɛ̃\) and both work as anoun. 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 extra letter(s) - “dessein” sits inside “desseins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dessein is recorded at frequency rank #15,350, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\. desseins is at rank #29,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\.
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 44659, this pair ranks #208,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dessein vs desseins
Shared letters: deins. Private to "dessein": -. Private to "desseins": -.
"dessein" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "desseins" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dessein" for "desseins" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dessein" or "desseins"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "dessein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desseins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dessein" and "desseins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desseins vs dessina". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #208,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.