empoisonnéevsemprisonnerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,081
“empoisonnée” frequency rank
#25,641
“emprisonner” frequency rank
59722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empoisonnée emprisonner
Definition Féminin singulier de empoisonné. Mettre en prison.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set empoisonnée and emprisonner apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
empoisonnée
11 ch
emprisonner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empoisonnée is \ɑ̃.pwa.zɔ.ne\ while emprisonner is \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\. 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 59722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empoisonnée is recorded at frequency rank #34,081, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.pwa.zɔ.ne\. emprisonner is at rank #25,641, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\.

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 59722, this pair ranks #101,527 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of empoisonnée vs emprisonner

Shared letters: eimnops. Private to "empoisonnée": é. Private to "emprisonner": r.

"empoisonnée" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVCVCCVV  ·  "emprisonner" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • emprisonneremmprisonner · empirsonner · empprisonner · empriosnner · emprisnoner · emprisonenr · emprisoner · emprisonnerr

Frequency comparison

empoisonnée#34,081
emprisonner#25,641

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empoisonnée" and "emprisonner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empoisonnée" is an adjective and "emprisonner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empoisonnée" or "emprisonner"?
"emprisonner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,641 in our French list, against #34,081 for "empoisonnée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering empoisonnée vs emprisonner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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