ignoraisvsignoréesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,312
“ignorais” frequency rank
#33,294
“ignorées” frequency rank
52606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ignorais ignorées
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de ignorer. Féminin pluriel de ignoré.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
ignorais
8 ch
ignorées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ignorais is \i.ɲɔ.ʁɛ\ while ignorées is \i.ɲɔ.ʁe\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ignorais is recorded at frequency rank #19,312, classified as averb, pronounced \i.ɲɔ.ʁɛ\. ignorées is at rank #33,294, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.ɲɔ.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 52606, this pair ranks #146,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ignorais vs ignorées

Shared letters: ginors. Private to "ignorais": a. Private to "ignorées": .

"ignorais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "ignorées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ignoraisginorais · iggnorais · ignnorais · ignoaris · ignoraiss · ignorasi · ignorias · ignorrais

Frequency comparison

ignorais#19,312
ignorées#33,294

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ignorais" and "ignorées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ignorais" is a verb and "ignorées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ignorais" or "ignorées"?
"ignorais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,312 in our French list, against #33,294 for "ignorées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ignorais vs ignorées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “ignorais”; for an adjective, it's “ignorées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ignorais” 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