élancevsélancéeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#26,933
“élance” frequency rank
#43,230
“élancée” frequency rank
70163
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élance élancée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de élancer. Féminin singulier de élancé.

Where the eye mixes élance and élancée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
élance
7 ch
élancée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élance is \e.lɑ̃s\ while élancée is \e.lɑ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 70163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élance is recorded at frequency rank #26,933, classified as averb, pronounced \e.lɑ̃s\. élancée is at rank #43,230, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.lɑ̃.se\.

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 70163, this pair ranks #52,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of élance vs élancée

Shared letters: acelné. Private to "élance": -. Private to "élancée": -.

"élance" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "élancée" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "élance" and "élancée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "élance" is a verb and "élancée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "élance" or "élancée"?
"élance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,933 in our French list, against #43,230 for "élancée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list