indéterminévsindéterminéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: indéterminé is a adjective, indéterminée is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set indéterminé and indéterminée apart are highlighted. They share 11 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
indéterminé
12 ch
indéterminée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

indéterminé#25,366
indéterminée#14,704

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indéterminé" and "indéterminée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indéterminé" is an adjective and "indéterminée" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indéterminé" or "indéterminée"?
"indéterminée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,704 in our French list, against #25,366 for "indéterminé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering indéterminé vs indéterminée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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