dessinezvsdessinsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dessinez is a verb, dessins is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dessinez” is a verb and “dessins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,278
“dessinez” frequency rank
#3,247
“dessins” frequency rank
50525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dessinez dessins
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dessiner. Pluriel de dessin.

Where the eye mixes dessinez and dessins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dessinez runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against dessins's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
dessinez
7 ch
dessins

Why the eye confuses dessinez with dessins

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dessinez is \de.si.ne\ while dessins is \de.sɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dessinez is recorded at frequency rank #47,278, classified as averb, pronounced \de.si.ne\. dessins is at rank #3,247, 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 50525, this pair ranks #161,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dessinez vs dessins

Shared letters: deins. Private to "dessinez": z. Private to "dessins": -.

"dessinez" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "dessins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dessinez ← ddessinez · desinez · desisnez · dessienz · dessinezz · dessinnez · dessinze · dessniez
  • dessins ← ddessins · desins · desisns · dessinns · dessinss · dessisn · dessnis · dsesins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dessinez" for "dessins" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dessinez" is a verb and "dessins" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "dessinez" or "dessins" show up more?
"dessins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,247 in our French list, against #47,278 for "dessinez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dessinez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dessins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,990 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dessinez" and "dessins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dessina vs dessinez". 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 #161,990 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