envoyéevsenvoyerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: envoyée is a noun, envoyer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“envoyée” is a noun and “envoyer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,613
“envoyée” frequency rank
#1,162
“envoyer” frequency rank
7775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envoyée envoyer
Definition Celle qui a été envoyée. Faire partir quelqu’un ou faire porter quelque chose quelque part.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
envoyée
7 ch
envoyer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: envoyée and envoyer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.vwa.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envoyée is recorded at frequency rank #6,613, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa.je\. envoyer is at rank #1,162, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa.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 7775, this pair ranks #422,165 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of envoyée vs envoyer

Shared letters: enovy. Private to "envoyée": é. Private to "envoyer": r.

"envoyée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVV  ·  "envoyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • envoyerennvoyer · enovyer · envoeyr · envoyerr · envoyre · envoyyer · envvoyer · envyoer

Frequency comparison

envoyée#6,613
envoyer#1,162

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "envoyée" and "envoyer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envoyée" is a noun and "envoyer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "envoyée" or "envoyer"?
"envoyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,162 in our French list, against #6,613 for "envoyée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering envoyée vs envoyer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “envoyée”; for a verb, it's “envoyer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “envoyée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list