désignéevsdésignentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: désignée is a adjective, désignent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,957
“désignée” frequency rank
#18,731
“désignent” frequency rank
31688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désignée désignent
Definition Féminin singulier de désigné. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désigner.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set désignée and désignent apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
désignée
9 ch
désignent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désignée is \de.zi.ɲe\ while désignent is \de.ziɲ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

désignée is recorded at frequency rank #12,957, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.zi.ɲe\. désignent is at rank #18,731, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ziɲ\.

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 31688, this pair ranks #302,208 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of désignée vs désignent

Shared letters: deginsé. Private to "désignée": -. Private to "désignent": t.

"désignée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "désignent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequency comparison

désignée#12,957
désignent#18,731

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "désignée" and "désignent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "désignée" is an adjective and "désignent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "désignée" or "désignent"?
"désignée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,957 in our French list, against #18,731 for "désignent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering désignée vs désignent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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