disparaisvsdisparatesConfusable pair

Quick tell: disparais is a verb, disparates is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“disparais” is a verb and “disparates” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,287
“disparais” frequency rank
#34,497
“disparates” frequency rank
81784
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature disparais disparates
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de disparaître (ou disparaitre). Pluriel de disparate.

Where the eye mixes disparais and disparates

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. disparais runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against disparates's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
disparais
10 ch
disparates

Look-alike desk: disparais vs disparates

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: disparais is \dis.pa.ʁɛ\ while disparates is \dis.pa.ʁat\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

disparais is recorded at frequency rank #47,287, classified as averb, pronounced \dis.pa.ʁɛ\. disparates is at rank #34,497, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dis.pa.ʁat\.

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 81784, this pair ranks #18,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of disparais vs disparates

Shared letters: adiprs. Private to "disparais": -. Private to "disparates": et.

"disparais" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "disparates" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • disparais ← ddisparais · dipsarais · disaprais · dispaaris · disparaiss · disparasi · disparias · disparrais
  • disparates ← ddisparates · dipsarates · disaprates · dispaartes · disparaets · disparatess · disparatse · disparattes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "disparais" for "disparates" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "disparais" is a verb and "disparates" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "disparais" or "disparates"?
"disparates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,497 in our French list, against #47,287 for "disparais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "disparais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "disparates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "disparais" and "disparates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disparais vs disparate". 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 #18,039 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