éloignéevséloignerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#12,889
“éloignée” frequency rank
#6,261
“éloigner” frequency rank
19150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éloignée éloigner
Definition Féminin singulier de éloigné. Écarter une chose ou une personne d’une autre ; mettre, porter, ou envoyer loin de, en parlant des distances, comme du temps.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
éloignée
8 ch
éloigner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: éloignée and éloigner carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.lwa.ɲe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éloignée is recorded at frequency rank #12,889, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.lwa.ɲe\. éloigner is at rank #6,261, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.lwa.ɲe\.

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 19150, this pair ranks #374,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of éloignée vs éloigner

Shared letters: egilnoé. Private to "éloignée": -. Private to "éloigner": r.

"éloignée" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVV  ·  "éloigner" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC

Frequency comparison

éloignée#12,889
éloigner#6,261

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éloignée" and "éloigner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "éloignée" is an adjective and "éloigner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "éloignée" or "éloigner"?
"éloigner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,261 in our French list, against #12,889 for "éloignée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering éloignée vs éloigner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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