désespéréevsdésespéréesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#14,461
“désespérée” frequency rank
#41,253
“désespérées” frequency rank
55714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désespérée désespérées
Definition Celle qui agit par désespoir, dans le désespoir. Féminin pluriel de désespéré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set désespérée and désespérées apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
désespérée
11 ch
désespérées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: désespérée and désespérées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.zɛs.pe.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “désespérée” sits inside “désespérées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désespérée is recorded at frequency rank #14,461, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.zɛs.pe.ʁe\. désespérées is at rank #41,253, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.zɛs.pe.ʁe\.

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 55714, this pair ranks #125,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of désespérée vs désespérées

Shared letters: deprsé. Private to "désespérée": -. Private to "désespérées": -.

"désespérée" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV  ·  "désespérées" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

désespérée#14,461
désespérées#41,253

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "désespérée" and "désespérées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "désespérée" is a noun and "désespérées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "désespérée" or "désespérées"?
"désespérée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,461 in our French list, against #41,253 for "désespérées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering désespérée vs désespérées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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