Which to use
“dessins” is a noun and “dessous” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,247
- “dessins” frequency rank
- #1,359
- “dessous” frequency rank
- 4606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dessins | dessous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de dessin. | Dans la partie, à la face inférieure. |
Where the eye mixes dessins and dessous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dessins (CVCCVCC) and dessous (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dessins and dessous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dessins is \de.sɛ̃\ while dessous is \də.su\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dessins is recorded at frequency rank #3,247, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\. dessous is at rank #1,359, tagged as anadv, pronounced \də.su\.
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 4606, this pair ranks #431,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dessins vs dessous
Shared letters: des. Private to "dessins": in. Private to "dessous": ou.
"dessins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "dessous" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dessins" for "dessous" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dessins" vs "dessous" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dessins" and "dessous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dessins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dessous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dessins" and "dessous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dessina vs dessins". 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 #431,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.