distribuéesvsdistribuentWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,697
“distribuées” frequency rank
#28,919
“distribuent” frequency rank
49616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature distribuées distribuent
Definition Féminin pluriel de distribué. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de distribuer.

Where the eye mixes distribuées and distribuent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. distribuées (CVCCCVCVVVC) and distribuent (CVCCCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
distribuées
11 ch
distribuent

Look-alike desk: distribuées vs distribuent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: distribuées is \dis.tʁi.bɥe\ while distribuent is \dis.tʁi.by\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

distribuées is recorded at frequency rank #20,697, classified as anadj, pronounced \dis.tʁi.bɥe\. distribuent is at rank #28,919, tagged as averb, pronounced \dis.tʁi.by\.

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 49616, this pair ranks #169,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of distribuées vs distribuent

Shared letters: bdeirstu. Private to "distribuées": é. Private to "distribuent": n.

"distribuées" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVVC  ·  "distribuent" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • distribuent ← ddistribuent · disrtibuent · disstribuent · distirbuent · distrbiuent · distribbuent · distribeunt · distribuennt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "distribuées" and "distribuent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "distribuées" is an adjective and "distribuent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "distribuées" vs "distribuent" - which ranks higher?
"distribuées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,697 in our French list, against #28,919 for "distribuent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "distribuées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "distribuent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "distribuées" and "distribuent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "distribuait vs distribuent". 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 #169,200 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