déséquilibréevsdéséquilibrésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,908
“déséquilibrée” frequency rank
#49,053
“déséquilibrés” frequency rank
92961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déséquilibrée déséquilibrés
Definition Féminin singulier de déséquilibré. Masculin pluriel de déséquilibré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set déséquilibrée and déséquilibrés apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

13 ch
déséquilibrée
13 ch
déséquilibrés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. déséquilibrée and déséquilibrés are pronounced identically (\de.ze.ki.li.bʁe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “déséquilibrée” becomes s in “déséquilibrés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déséquilibrée is recorded at frequency rank #43,908, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ze.ki.li.bʁe\. déséquilibrés is at rank #49,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.ze.ki.li.bʁe\.

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 92961, this pair ranks #2,617 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déséquilibrée vs déséquilibrés

Shared letters: bdilqrsué. Private to "déséquilibrée": e. Private to "déséquilibrés": -.

"déséquilibrée" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCVVCVCCVV  ·  "déséquilibrés" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCVVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

déséquilibrée#43,908
déséquilibrés#49,053

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déséquilibrée" and "déséquilibrés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.ze.ki.li.bʁe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "déséquilibrée" or "déséquilibrés"?
"déséquilibrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,908 in our French list, against #49,053 for "déséquilibrés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering déséquilibrée vs déséquilibrés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list