déterminentvsdéterminésWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#22,247
“déterminent” frequency rank
#12,148
“déterminés” frequency rank
34395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déterminent déterminés
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de déterminer. Masculin pluriel de déterminé.

Where the eye mixes déterminent and déterminés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. déterminent runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCVCC) against déterminés's 10 (CVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
déterminent
10 ch
déterminés

Why the eye confuses déterminent with déterminés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déterminent is \de.tɛʁ.min\ while déterminés is \de.tɛʁ.mi.ne\. 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 34395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déterminent is recorded at frequency rank #22,247, classified as averb, pronounced \de.tɛʁ.min\. déterminés is at rank #12,148, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.tɛʁ.mi.ne\.

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 34395, this pair ranks #284,128 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déterminent vs déterminés

Shared letters: deimnrté. Private to "déterminent": -. Private to "déterminés": s.

"déterminent" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC  ·  "déterminés" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "déterminent" and "déterminés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déterminent" is a verb and "déterminés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "déterminent" or "déterminés"?
"déterminés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,148 in our French list, against #22,247 for "déterminent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déterminent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "déterminés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #284,128 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déterminent" and "déterminés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déterminent vs déterminera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #284,128 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