figéevsfilmeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: figée is a adjective, filme is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#27,810
“figée” frequency rank
#14,040
“filme” frequency rank
41850
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figée filme
Definition Féminin singulier de figé. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de filmer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set figée and filme apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
figée
5 ch
filme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: figée is \fi.ʒe\ while filme is \film\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41850, 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\. filme is at rank #14,040, tagged as averb, pronounced \film\.

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 41850, this pair ranks #230,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figée vs filme

Shared letters: efi. Private to "figée": . Private to "filme": lm.

"figée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "filme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filmeffilme · filem · fillme · filmme · fimle · flime · iflme

Frequency comparison

figée#27,810
filme#14,040

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figée" and "filme" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "figée" is an adjective and "filme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "figée" or "filme"?
"filme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,040 in our French list, against #27,810 for "figée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering figée vs filme

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “figée”; for a verb, it's “filme”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list