Which to use
“communiqué” is a noun and “communiquées” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,524
- “communiqué” frequency rank
- #26,303
- “communiquées” frequency rank
- 29827
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | communiqué | communiquées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Message à la presse. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de communiquer. |
Same sound, different letters: communiqué vs communiquées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. communiqué runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVV) against communiquées's 12 (CVCCVCVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - communiqué / communiquées
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: communiqué and communiquées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ.my.ni.ke\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “communiqué” sits inside “communiquées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
communiqué is recorded at frequency rank #3,524, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.my.ni.ke\. communiquées is at rank #26,303, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ.my.ni.ke\.
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 29827, this pair ranks #314,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of communiqué vs communiquées
Shared letters: cimnoqué. Private to "communiqué": -. Private to "communiquées": es.
"communiqué" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVV · "communiquées" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "communiqué" for "communiquées" ever safe?
Which is more common, "communiqué" or "communiquées"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "communiqué" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "communiquées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "communiqué" and "communiquées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "communiquée vs communiquées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #314,206 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.