essayéevsessayerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“essayée” and “essayer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,789
“essayée” frequency rank
#963
“essayer” frequency rank
40752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature essayée essayer
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de essayer. Mettre à l’essai ; vérifier le bon fonctionnement.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
essayée
7 ch
essayer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. essayée (\e.sɛ.je\) and essayer (\e.se.je\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

essayée is recorded at frequency rank #39,789, classified as averb, pronounced \e.sɛ.je\. essayer is at rank #963, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.se.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 40752, this pair ranks #238,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of essayée vs essayer

Shared letters: aesy. Private to "essayée": é. Private to "essayer": r.

"essayée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVV  ·  "essayer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • essayeresasyer · esayer · essaeyr · essayerr · essayre · essayyer · essyaer · sesayer

Frequency comparison

essayée#39,789
essayer#963

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "essayée" and "essayer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.sɛ.je\ versus \e.se.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "essayée" or "essayer"?
"essayer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #963 in our French list, against #39,789 for "essayée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering essayée vs essayer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “essayée” 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