emprisonnervsemprisonnésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#25,641
“emprisonner” frequency rank
#20,998
“emprisonnés” frequency rank
46639
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature emprisonner emprisonnés
Definition Mettre en prison. Masculin pluriel de emprisonné.

Where the spellings diverge

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

11 ch
emprisonner
11 ch
emprisonnés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: emprisonner and emprisonnés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, 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 46639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

emprisonner is recorded at frequency rank #25,641, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁi.zɔ.ne\. emprisonnés is at rank #20,998, tagged as anadj, 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 46639, this pair ranks #193,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of emprisonner vs emprisonnés

Shared letters: eimnoprs. Private to "emprisonner": -. Private to "emprisonnés": é.

"emprisonner" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCVC  ·  "emprisonnés" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequency comparison

emprisonner#25,641
emprisonnés#20,998

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "emprisonner" and "emprisonnés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "emprisonner" is a verb and "emprisonnés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "emprisonner" or "emprisonnés"?
"emprisonnés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,998 in our French list, against #25,641 for "emprisonner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering emprisonner vs emprisonnés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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