dictéesvsdicterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dictées is a noun, dicter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dictées” is a noun and “dicter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,211
“dictées” frequency rank
#20,113
“dicter” frequency rank
53324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dictées dicter
Definition Pluriel de dictée. Prononcer plus ou moins lentement et à haute voix ce qu'on fait écrire au fur et à mesure par quelqu'un.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dictées and dicter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
dictées
6 ch
dicter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dictées and dicter carry the same recorded pronunciation, \dik.te\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dictées is recorded at frequency rank #33,211, classified as anoun, pronounced \dik.te\. dicter is at rank #20,113, tagged as averb, pronounced \dik.te\.

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 53324, this pair ranks #141,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dictées vs dicter

Shared letters: cdeit. Private to "dictées": . Private to "dicter": r.

"dictées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "dicter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dicterdciter · ddicter · diccter · dicetr · dicterr · dictre · dictter · ditcer

Frequency comparison

dictées#33,211
dicter#20,113

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dictées" and "dicter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dictées" is a noun and "dicter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dictées" or "dicter"?
"dicter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,113 in our French list, against #33,211 for "dictées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dictées vs dicter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dictées”; for a verb, it's “dicter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dictées” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list