entourévsentouréeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,574
“entouré” frequency rank
#8,237
“entourée” frequency rank
12811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entouré entourée
Definition Participe passé masculin du verbe entourer. Féminin singulier de entouré.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
entouré
8 ch
entourée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: entouré and entourée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\. 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) - “entouré” sits inside “entourée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entouré is recorded at frequency rank #4,574, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\. entourée is at rank #8,237, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\.

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 12811, this pair ranks #403,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entouré vs entourée

Shared letters: enortué. Private to "entouré": -. Private to "entourée": -.

"entouré" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "entourée" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVV

Frequency comparison

entouré#4,574
entourée#8,237

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "entouré" and "entourée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "entouré" is a verb and "entourée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "entouré" or "entourée"?
"entouré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,574 in our French list, against #8,237 for "entourée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering entouré vs entourée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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