empruntéevsemprunterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,533
“empruntée” frequency rank
#6,612
“emprunter” frequency rank
30145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empruntée emprunter
Definition Féminin singulier de emprunté. Demander et recevoir en prêt, obtenir à titre de prêt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set empruntée and emprunter apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
empruntée
9 ch
emprunter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: empruntée and emprunter carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te\. 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 30145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empruntée is recorded at frequency rank #23,533, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te\. emprunter is at rank #6,612, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁœ̃.te\.

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 30145, this pair ranks #312,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empruntée vs emprunter

Shared letters: emnprtu. Private to "empruntée": é. Private to "emprunter": -.

"empruntée" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVV  ·  "emprunter" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • emprunteremmprunter · empprunter · emprnuter · emprrunter · emprunetr · emprunnter · emprunterr · empruntre

Frequency comparison

empruntée#23,533
emprunter#6,612

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empruntée" and "emprunter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empruntée" is an adjective and "emprunter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empruntée" or "emprunter"?
"emprunter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,612 in our French list, against #23,533 for "empruntée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering empruntée vs emprunter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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