détectervsdétectésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“détecter” and “détectés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,698
“détecter” frequency rank
#31,468
“détectés” frequency rank
40166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature détecter détectés
Definition Se rendre compte de ; déceler ; trouver, en parlant de quelque chose qui n'était pas évident. Participe passé masculin pluriel de détecter.

Same sound, different letters: détecter vs détectés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. détecter and détectés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
détecter
8 ch
détectés

Homophone desk: détecter vs détectés

This is the hard kind. détecter and détectés are pronounced identically (\de.tɛk.te\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

détecter is recorded at frequency rank #8,698, classified as averb, pronounced \de.tɛk.te\. détectés is at rank #31,468, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.tɛk.te\.

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 40166, this pair ranks #242,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of détecter vs détectés

Shared letters: cdeté. Private to "détecter": r. Private to "détectés": s.

"détecter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "détectés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "détecter" for "détectés" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.tɛk.te\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "détecter" or "détectés" show up more?
"détecter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,698 in our French list, against #31,468 for "détectés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "détecter" / "détectés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "détecter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "détectés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "détecter" and "détectés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "détectés vs détestée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #242,532 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