Which to use
“désignent” is a verb and “désignés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,731
- “désignent” frequency rank
- #11,571
- “désignés” frequency rank
- 30302
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désignent | désignés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de désigner. | Masculin pluriel de désigné. |
Where the eye mixes désignent and désignés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. désignent runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCC) against désignés's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: désignent vs désignés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: désignent is \de.ziɲ\ 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 30302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désignent is recorded at frequency rank #18,731, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ziɲ\. 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 30302, this pair ranks #311,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désignent vs désignés
Shared letters: dginsé. Private to "désignent": et. Private to "désignés": -.
"désignent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC · "désignés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désignent" for "désignés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "désignent" vs "désignés" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "désignent" 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 #311,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désignent" and "désignés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désignent vs désignera". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #311,267 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.