enchaînevsenchaînésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,040
“enchaîne” frequency rank
#36,824
“enchaînés” frequency rank
47864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enchaîne enchaînés
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de enchaîner. Masculin pluriel de enchaîné.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
enchaîne
9 ch
enchaînés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enchaîne is \ɑ̃.ʃɛn\ while enchaînés is \ɑ̃.ʃɛ.ne\. 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 47864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enchaîne is recorded at frequency rank #11,040, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʃɛn\. enchaînés is at rank #36,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʃɛ.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 47864, this pair ranks #183,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enchaîne vs enchaînés

Shared letters: acehnî. Private to "enchaîne": -. Private to "enchaînés": .

"enchaîne" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV  ·  "enchaînés" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC

Frequency comparison

enchaîne#11,040
enchaînés#36,824

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enchaîne" and "enchaînés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enchaîne" is a verb and "enchaînés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enchaîne" or "enchaînés"?
"enchaîne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,040 in our French list, against #36,824 for "enchaînés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enchaîne vs enchaînés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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