distinguéesvsdistinguerTell them apart

Quick tell: distinguées is a adjective, distinguer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#35,467
“distinguées” frequency rank
#5,859
“distinguer” frequency rank
41326
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distinguées distinguer
Definition Féminin pluriel de distingué. Discerner par l’un des sens.

Same sound, different letters: distinguées vs distinguer

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

11 ch
distinguées
10 ch
distinguer

Homophone desk: distinguées vs distinguer

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: distinguées and distinguer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \dis.tɛ̃.ɡe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, 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 41326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

distinguées is recorded at frequency rank #35,467, classified as anadj, pronounced \dis.tɛ̃.ɡe\. distinguer is at rank #5,859, tagged as averb, pronounced \dis.tɛ̃.ɡe\.

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 41326, this pair ranks #233,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of distinguées vs distinguer

Shared letters: deginstu. Private to "distinguées": é. Private to "distinguer": r.

"distinguées" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVVC  ·  "distinguer" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • distinguerddistinguer · disitnguer · disstinguer · distignuer · distingeur · distingguer · distinguerr · distingure

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "distinguées" for "distinguer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "distinguées" is an adjective and "distinguer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "distinguées" or "distinguer"?
"distinguer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,859 in our French list, against #35,467 for "distinguées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "distinguées" / "distinguer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "distinguées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "distinguer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distinguées" and "distinguer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distinguée vs distinguées". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #233,928 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