appliquéesvsappliquerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: appliquées is a adjective, appliquer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#9,957
“appliquées” frequency rank
#2,702
“appliquer” frequency rank
12659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature appliquées appliquer
Definition Féminin pluriel de appliqué. Mettre une chose sur une autre, soit pour qu’elle y demeure adhérente, soit pour qu’elle y laisse une empreinte, soit simplement pour qu’elle y touche.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set appliquées and appliquer apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
appliquées
9 ch
appliquer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

appliquées and appliquer form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

appliquées is recorded at frequency rank #9,957, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.pli.ke\. appliquer is at rank #2,702, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pli.ke\.

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 12659, this pair ranks #404,348 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

appliquées#9,957
appliquer#2,702

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "appliquées" and "appliquer" be used interchangeably?
No, "appliquées" and "appliquer" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering appliquées vs appliquer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “appliquées”; for a verb, it's “appliquer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “appliquées” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list