célèbrevscélébréesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,516
“célèbre” frequency rank
#31,911
“célébrées” frequency rank
33427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature célèbre célébrées
Definition Qui est très connu par une population et ses médias. Participe passé féminin pluriel du verbe célébrer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
célèbre
9 ch
célébrées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: célèbre is \se.lɛbʁ\ while célébrées is \se.le.bʁe\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

célèbre is recorded at frequency rank #1,516, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.lɛbʁ\. célébrées is at rank #31,911, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.le.bʁe\.

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 33427, this pair ranks #290,724 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of célèbre vs célébrées

Shared letters: bcelré. Private to "célèbre": è. Private to "célébrées": s.

"célèbre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "célébrées" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Frequency comparison

célèbre#1,516
célébrées#31,911

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "célèbre" and "célébrées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "célèbre" is an adjective and "célébrées" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "célèbre" or "célébrées"?
"célèbre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,516 in our French list, against #31,911 for "célébrées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering célèbre vs célébrées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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