figée vs figées, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#27,810
“figée” frequency rank: #48,530
“figées” frequency rank: 76340
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	figée	figées
Definition	Féminin singulier de figé.	Féminin pluriel de figé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set figée and figées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

figée

6 ch

figées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. figée and figées are pronounced identically (\fi.ʒe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “figée” sits inside “figées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figée is recorded at frequency rank #27,810, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\. figées is at rank #48,530, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\.

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 76340, this pair ranks #31,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of figée vs figées

Shared letters: efgié. Private to "figée": -. Private to "figées": s.

"figée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "figées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequency comparison

figée#27,810

figées#48,530

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figée" and "figées" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\fi.ʒe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "figée" or "figées"?

"figée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,810 in our French list, against #48,530 for "figées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering figée vs figées

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 “figée” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable