désignavsdésignésConfusable pair

Quick tell: désigna is a verb, désignés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“désigna” is a verb and “désignés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,051
“désigna” frequency rank
#11,571
“désignés” frequency rank
60622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désigna désignés
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de désigner. Masculin pluriel de désigné.

Where the eye mixes désigna and désignés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. désigna runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against désignés's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
désigna
8 ch
désignés

Look-alike desk: désigna vs désignés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désigna is \de.zi.ɲa\ while désignés is \de.zi.ɲe\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désigna is recorded at frequency rank #49,051, classified as averb, pronounced \de.zi.ɲa\. désignés is at rank #11,571, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.zi.ɲe\.

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 60622, this pair ranks #96,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of désigna vs désignés

Shared letters: dginsé. Private to "désigna": a. Private to "désignés": -.

"désigna" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "désignés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "désigna" and "désignés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "désigna" is a verb and "désignés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "désigna" vs "désignés" - which ranks higher?
"désignés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,571 in our French list, against #49,051 for "désigna". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "désigna" and "désignés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "désigna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "désignés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #96,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "désigna" and "désignés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désigna vs dessina". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #96,675 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list