attendevsattenduesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#21,535
“attende” frequency rank
#21,536
“attendues” frequency rank
43071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature attende attendues
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de attendre. Féminin pluriel de attendu.

Where the eye mixes attende and attendues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
attende
9 ch
attendues

Look-alike desk: attende vs attendues

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: attende is \a.tɑ̃d\ while attendues is \a.tɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 43071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

attende is recorded at frequency rank #21,535, classified as averb, pronounced \a.tɑ̃d\. attendues is at rank #21,536, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.tɑ̃.dy\.

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 43071, this pair ranks #220,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of attende vs attendues

Shared letters: adent. Private to "attende": -. Private to "attendues": su.

"attende" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "attendues" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • attendeatende · atetnde · attedne · attendde · attened · attennde · attnede · tatende
  • attenduesatendues · atetndues · attednues · attenddues · attendeus · attenduess · attenduse · attenndues

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "attende" for "attendues" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "attende" is a verb and "attendues" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "attende" vs "attendues" - which ranks higher?
"attende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,535 in our French list, against #21,536 for "attendues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "attende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "attendues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "attende" and "attendues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attendues vs atténuée". 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 #220,844 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