Which to use
“indéterminé” is an adjective and “indéterminée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,366
- “indéterminé” frequency rank
- #14,704
- “indéterminée” frequency rank
- 40070
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indéterminé | indéterminée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas déterminé ; Qui n’est pas fixé. | Lettre formellement introduite dans les calculs, en fonction de laquelle peuvent s'exprimer des polynômes, des fractions rationnelles ou des séries formelles. |
Same sound, different letters: indéterminé vs indéterminée
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. indéterminé runs 11 letters (VCCVCVCCVCV) against indéterminée's 12 (VCCVCVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - indéterminé / indéterminée
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: indéterminé and indéterminée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.de.tɛʁ.mi.ne\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “indéterminé” sits inside “indéterminée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indéterminé is recorded at frequency rank #25,366, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.de.tɛʁ.mi.ne\. indéterminée is at rank #14,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.de.tɛʁ.mi.ne\.
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 40070, this pair ranks #243,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of indéterminé vs indéterminée
Shared letters: deimnrté. Private to "indéterminé": -. Private to "indéterminée": -.
"indéterminé" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCV · "indéterminée" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "indéterminé" and "indéterminée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "indéterminé" or "indéterminée"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "indéterminé" / "indéterminée". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "indéterminé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indéterminée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
Confusion rank #243,273 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.