ennuyévsennuyéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ennuyé is a noun, ennuyée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ennuyé” is a noun and “ennuyée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,197
“ennuyé” frequency rank
#46,145
“ennuyée” frequency rank
69342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ennuyé ennuyée
Definition Personne qui a des ennuis. Féminin singulier de ennuyé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ennuyé and ennuyée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ennuyé
7 ch
ennuyée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ennuyé and ennuyée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ennuyé” sits inside “ennuyée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ennuyé is recorded at frequency rank #23,197, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\. ennuyée is at rank #46,145, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\.

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 69342, this pair ranks #55,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ennuyé vs ennuyée

Shared letters: enuyé. Private to "ennuyé": -. Private to "ennuyée": -.

"ennuyé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV  ·  "ennuyée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVV

Frequency comparison

ennuyé#23,197
ennuyée#46,145

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ennuyé" and "ennuyée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ennuyé" is a noun and "ennuyée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ennuyé" or "ennuyée"?
"ennuyé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,197 in our French list, against #46,145 for "ennuyée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ennuyé vs ennuyée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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