collavscolléeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,989
“colla” frequency rank
#21,886
“collée” frequency rank
70875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colla collée
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de coller. Participe passé féminin singulier de coller.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set colla and collée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
colla
6 ch
collée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. colla (\kɔ.la\) and collée (\kɔ.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colla is recorded at frequency rank #48,989, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ.la\. collée is at rank #21,886, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.le\.

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 70875, this pair ranks #49,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of colla vs collée

Shared letters: clo. Private to "colla": a. Private to "collée": .

"colla" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "collée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • collaccolla · clola · colal · oclla

Frequency comparison

colla#48,989
collée#21,886

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "colla" and "collée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.la\ versus \kɔ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "colla" or "collée"?
"collée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,886 in our French list, against #48,989 for "colla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering colla vs collée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “colla” 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