coifféevscoifferWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27,374
“coiffée” frequency rank
#24,908
“coiffer” frequency rank
52282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coiffée coiffer
Definition Féminin singulier de coiffé. Couvrir la tête de quelqu’un, y mettre quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
coiffée
7 ch
coiffer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: coiffée and coiffer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kwa.fe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coiffée is recorded at frequency rank #27,374, classified as anadj, pronounced \kwa.fe\. coiffer is at rank #24,908, tagged as averb, pronounced \kwa.fe\.

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 52282, this pair ranks #148,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coiffée vs coiffer

Shared letters: cefio. Private to "coiffée": é. Private to "coiffer": r.

"coiffée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV  ·  "coiffer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coifferccoiffer · cioffer · cofifer · coifefr · coifer · coifferr · coiffre · ociffer

Frequency comparison

coiffée#27,374
coiffer#24,908

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coiffée" and "coiffer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "coiffée" is an adjective and "coiffer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "coiffée" or "coiffer"?
"coiffer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,908 in our French list, against #27,374 for "coiffée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering coiffée vs coiffer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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