achevévsachevéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,267
“achevé” frequency rank
#10,268
“achevée” frequency rank
17535
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achevé achevée
Definition Qui est accompli, parfait, qui a toutes les bonnes qualités de son genre. Féminin singulier de achevé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set achevé and achevée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
achevé
7 ch
achevée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. achevé and achevée are pronounced identically (\a.ʃə.ve\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “achevé” sits inside “achevée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achevé is recorded at frequency rank #7,267, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʃə.ve\. achevée is at rank #10,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.ʃə.ve\.

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 17535, this pair ranks #382,679 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of achevé vs achevée

Shared letters: acehvé. Private to "achevé": -. Private to "achevée": -.

"achevé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "achevée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Frequency comparison

achevé#7,267
achevée#10,268

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "achevé" and "achevée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\a.ʃə.ve\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "achevé" or "achevée"?
"achevé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,267 in our French list, against #10,268 for "achevée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering achevé vs achevée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “achevé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list