caractériséesvscaractérisésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,872
“caractérisées” frequency rank
#29,269
“caractérisés” frequency rank
61141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caractérisées caractérisés
Definition Féminin pluriel de caractérisé. Masculin pluriel de caractérisé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set caractérisées and caractérisés apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

13 ch
caractérisées
12 ch
caractérisés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. caractérisées and caractérisés are pronounced identically (\ka.ʁak.te.ʁi.ze\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caractérisées is recorded at frequency rank #31,872, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁak.te.ʁi.ze\. caractérisés is at rank #29,269, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁak.te.ʁi.ze\.

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 61141, this pair ranks #93,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caractérisées vs caractérisés

Shared letters: acirsté. Private to "caractérisées": e. Private to "caractérisés": -.

"caractérisées" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCVVC  ·  "caractérisés" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

caractérisées#31,872
caractérisés#29,269

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caractérisées" and "caractérisés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ka.ʁak.te.ʁi.ze\), 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, "caractérisées" or "caractérisés"?
"caractérisés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,269 in our French list, against #31,872 for "caractérisées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering caractérisées vs caractérisés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list