dépouillevsdépouilléeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dépouille is a noun, dépouillée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,612
“dépouille” frequency rank
#42,306
“dépouillée” frequency rank
57918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépouille dépouillée
Definition Peau qui, au moment de la mue, se détache du corps des serpents et de certains insectes. Féminin singulier de dépouillé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dépouille and dépouillée apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
dépouille
10 ch
dépouillée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépouille is \de.puj\ while dépouillée is \de.pu.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépouille is recorded at frequency rank #15,612, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.puj\. dépouillée is at rank #42,306, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pu.je\.

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 57918, this pair ranks #112,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dépouille vs dépouillée

Shared letters: deilopué. Private to "dépouille": -. Private to "dépouillée": -.

"dépouille" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVVCCV  ·  "dépouillée" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVVCCVV

Frequency comparison

dépouille#15,612
dépouillée#42,306

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dépouille" and "dépouillée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dépouille" is a noun and "dépouillée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dépouille" or "dépouillée"?
"dépouille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,612 in our French list, against #42,306 for "dépouillée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dépouille vs dépouillée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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