dessinées vs dessins, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,122
“dessinées” frequency rank: #3,247
“dessins” frequency rank: 18369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dessinées	dessins
Definition	Féminin pluriel de dessiné.	Pluriel de dessin.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch

dessinées

7 ch

dessins

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dessinées is \de.si.ne\ while dessins is \de.sɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dessinées is recorded at frequency rank #15,122, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.si.ne\. dessins is at rank #3,247, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\.

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 18369, this pair ranks #378,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dessinées vs dessins

Shared letters: deins. Private to "dessinées": é. Private to "dessins": -.

"dessinées" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "dessins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

dessins ← ddessins · desins · desisns · dessinns · dessinss · dessisn · dessnis · dsesins

Frequency comparison

dessinées#15,122

dessins#3,247

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dessinées" and "dessins" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dessinées" is an adjective and "dessins" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "dessinées" or "dessins"?

"dessins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,247 in our French list, against #15,122 for "dessinées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dessinées vs dessins

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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