désignéevsdésignerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#12,957
“désignée” frequency rank
#5,127
“désigner” frequency rank
18084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature désignée désigner
Definition Féminin singulier de désigné. Indiquer une personne ou une chose par des expressions, par des marques qui la font reconnaître.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
désignée
8 ch
désigner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: désignée and désigner carry the same recorded pronunciation, \de.zi.ɲe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18084, 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\. désigner is at rank #5,127, tagged as averb, 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 18084, this pair ranks #380,074 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of désignée vs désigner

Shared letters: deginsé. Private to "désignée": -. Private to "désigner": r.

"désignée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "désigner" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

désignée#12,957
désigner#5,127

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "désignée" and "désigner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "désignée" is an adjective and "désigner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "désignée" or "désigner"?
"désigner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,127 in our French list, against #12,957 for "désignée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering désignée vs désigner

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 “désigner”.
  • 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