enfoncévsénoncéeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#18,737
“enfoncé” frequency rank
#45,394
“énoncée” frequency rank
64131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfoncé énoncée
Definition Qui n’est pas au niveau du reste, qui forme cavité, ou un endroit profond. Participe passé féminin singulier de énoncer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enfoncé and énoncée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
enfoncé
7 ch
énoncée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfoncé is \ɑ̃.fɔ̃.se\ while énoncée is \e.nɔ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 6 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 64131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfoncé is recorded at frequency rank #18,737, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɔ̃.se\. énoncée is at rank #45,394, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.nɔ̃.se\.

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 64131, this pair ranks #78,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfoncé vs énoncée

Shared letters: cenoé. Private to "enfoncé": f. Private to "énoncée": -.

"enfoncé" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "énoncée" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV

Frequency comparison

enfoncé#18,737
énoncée#45,394

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfoncé" and "énoncée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enfoncé" is an adjective and "énoncée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enfoncé" or "énoncée"?
"enfoncé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,737 in our French list, against #45,394 for "énoncée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enfoncé vs énoncée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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