économevséconomiseWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,820
“économe” frequency rank
#23,738
“économise” frequency rank
48558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature économe économise
Definition Qualifie une personne qui évite de dépenser de l’argent inutilement. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de économiser.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set économe and économise apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
économe
9 ch
économise

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: économe is \e.kɔ.nɔm\ while économise is \e.kɔ.nɔ.miz\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

économe is recorded at frequency rank #24,820, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.kɔ.nɔm\. économise is at rank #23,738, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kɔ.nɔ.miz\.

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 48558, this pair ranks #177,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of économe vs économise

Shared letters: cemnoé. Private to "économe": -. Private to "économise": is.

"économe" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "économise" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

économe#24,820
économise#23,738

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "économe" and "économise" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "économe" is an adjective and "économise" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "économe" or "économise"?
"économise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,738 in our French list, against #24,820 for "économe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering économe vs économise

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “économe”; for a verb, it's “économise”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “économe” 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