entourévsentouréesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,574
“entouré” frequency rank
#28,939
“entourées” frequency rank
33513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entouré entourées
Definition Participe passé masculin du verbe entourer. Féminin pluriel de entouré.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
entouré
9 ch
entourées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: entouré and entourées 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 2 extra letter(s) - “entouré” sits inside “entourées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33513, 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\. entourées is at rank #28,939, 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 33513, this pair ranks #290,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of entouré vs entourées

Shared letters: enortué. Private to "entouré": -. Private to "entourées": s.

"entouré" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "entourées" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVVC

Frequency comparison

entouré#4,574
entourées#28,939

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "entouré" and "entourées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "entouré" is a verb and "entourées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "entouré" or "entourées"?
"entouré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,574 in our French list, against #28,939 for "entourées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering entouré vs entourées

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 “entourées”.
  • 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