crédulevscrédulitéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: crédule is a adjective, crédulité is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“crédule” is an adjective and “crédulité” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,261
“crédule” frequency rank
#42,262
“crédulité” frequency rank
84523
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crédule crédulité
Definition Qui croit trop facilement ce qu’on lui dit, prompt à croire quelqu’un. Facilité à croire sur un fondement très léger ou sans fondement.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
crédule
9 ch
crédulité

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crédule is \kʁe.dyl\ while crédulité is \kʁe.dy.li.te\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crédule is recorded at frequency rank #42,261, classified as anadj, pronounced \kʁe.dyl\. crédulité is at rank #42,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁe.dy.li.te\.

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 84523, this pair ranks #12,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crédule vs crédulité

Shared letters: cdlrué. Private to "crédule": e. Private to "crédulité": it.

"crédule" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "crédulité" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

crédule#42,261
crédulité#42,262

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crédule" and "crédulité" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crédule" is an adjective and "crédulité" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crédule" or "crédulité"?
"crédule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,261 in our French list, against #42,262 for "crédulité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crédule vs crédulité

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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