enclenchévsenclenchéeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,801
“enclenché” frequency rank
#49,629
“enclenchée” frequency rank
82430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enclenché enclenchée
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe enclencher. Féminin singulier de enclenché.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch
enclenché
10 ch
enclenchée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: enclenché and enclenchée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.klɑ̃.ʃe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “enclenché” sits inside “enclenchée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enclenché is recorded at frequency rank #32,801, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.klɑ̃.ʃe\. enclenchée is at rank #49,629, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.klɑ̃.ʃe\.

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 82430, this pair ranks #16,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enclenché vs enclenchée

Shared letters: cehlné. Private to "enclenché": -. Private to "enclenchée": -.

"enclenché" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV  ·  "enclenchée" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCCVV

Frequency comparison

enclenché#32,801
enclenchée#49,629

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enclenché" and "enclenchée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enclenché" is a verb and "enclenchée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enclenché" or "enclenchée"?
"enclenché" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,801 in our French list, against #49,629 for "enclenchée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enclenché vs enclenchée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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