aperçuevsaperçusWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,102
“aperçue” frequency rank
#21,526
“aperçus” frequency rank
45628
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aperçue aperçus
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de apercevoir. Pluriel de aperçu.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
aperçue
7 ch
aperçus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: aperçue and aperçus carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.pɛʁ.sy\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “aperçue” becomes s in “aperçus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aperçue is recorded at frequency rank #24,102, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pɛʁ.sy\. aperçus is at rank #21,526, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.pɛʁ.sy\.

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 45628, this pair ranks #201,284 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aperçue vs aperçus

Shared letters: aepruç. Private to "aperçue": -. Private to "aperçus": s.

"aperçue" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "aperçus" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

aperçue#24,102
aperçus#21,526

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aperçue" and "aperçus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aperçue" is a verb and "aperçus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aperçue" or "aperçus"?
"aperçus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,526 in our French list, against #24,102 for "aperçue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aperçue vs aperçus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “aperçue”; for a noun, it's “aperçus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aperçue” 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