développevsdéveloppéesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#4,071
“développe” frequency rank
#11,039
“développées” frequency rank
15110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature développe développées
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de développer. Féminin pluriel de développé.

Where the eye mixes développe and développées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. développe runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against développées's 11 (CVCVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
développe
11 ch
développées

Why the eye confuses développe with développées

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: développe is \de.vlɔp\ while développées is \de.vlɔ.pe\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

développe is recorded at frequency rank #4,071, classified as averb, pronounced \de.vlɔp\. développées is at rank #11,039, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.vlɔ.pe\.

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 15110, this pair ranks #393,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of développe vs développées

Shared letters: delopvé. Private to "développe": -. Private to "développées": s.

"développe" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "développées" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "développe" for "développées" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "développe" is a verb and "développées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "développe" or "développées" show up more?
"développe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,071 in our French list, against #11,039 for "développées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "développe" and "développées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "développe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "développées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #393,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "développe" and "développées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "développées vs développera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #393,811 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