attachéevsattachéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: attachée is a noun, attachées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“attachée” is a noun and “attachées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,500
“attachée” frequency rank
#22,491
“attachées” frequency rank
30991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature attachée attachées
Definition Femme ayant une fonction d’attaché. Féminin pluriel de attaché.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
attachée
9 ch
attachées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: attachée and attachées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.ta.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “attachée” sits inside “attachées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

attachée is recorded at frequency rank #8,500, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ta.ʃe\. attachées is at rank #22,491, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.ta.ʃe\.

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 30991, this pair ranks #306,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of attachée vs attachées

Shared letters: acehté. Private to "attachée": -. Private to "attachées": s.

"attachée" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV  ·  "attachées" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

attachée#8,500
attachées#22,491

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "attachée" and "attachées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "attachée" is a noun and "attachées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "attachée" or "attachées"?
"attachée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,500 in our French list, against #22,491 for "attachées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering attachée vs attachées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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