interpellervsinterpellésConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,173
“interpeller” frequency rank
#25,016
“interpellés” frequency rank
45189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interpeller interpellés
Definition Adresser la parole, d’une façon plus ou moins brusque, à quelqu’un pour lui demander quelque chose. Participe passé masculin pluriel de interpeller.

Same sound, different letters: interpeller vs interpellés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

11 ch
interpeller
11 ch
interpellés

Same sound, different spelling - interpeller / interpellés

This is the hard kind. interpeller and interpellés are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interpeller is recorded at frequency rank #20,173, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\. interpellés is at rank #25,016, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\.

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 45189, this pair ranks #204,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of interpeller vs interpellés

Shared letters: eilnprt. Private to "interpeller": -. Private to "interpellés": .

"interpeller" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC  ·  "interpellés" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interpellerinetrpeller · innterpeller · intepreller · interepller · interpelelr · interpeler · interpellerr · interpellre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "interpeller" for "interpellés" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\), 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, "interpeller" or "interpellés"?
"interpeller" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,173 in our French list, against #25,016 for "interpellés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "interpeller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interpellés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "interpeller" and "interpellés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interpellées vs interpellés". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #204,688 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list