licenciervslicenciésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,596
“licencier” frequency rank
#17,991
“licenciés” frequency rank
41587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature licencier licenciés
Definition Congédier un employé. Masculin pluriel de licencié.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set licencier and licenciés apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
licencier
9 ch
licenciés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: licencier and licenciés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \li.sɑ̃.sje\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

licencier is recorded at frequency rank #23,596, classified as averb, pronounced \li.sɑ̃.sje\. licenciés is at rank #17,991, tagged as anadj, pronounced \li.sɑ̃.sje\.

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 41587, this pair ranks #232,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of licencier vs licenciés

Shared letters: ceiln. Private to "licencier": r. Private to "licenciés": .

"licencier" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "licenciés" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • licencierilcencier · lciencier · liccencier · licecnier · licenccier · licenceir · licencierr · licencire

Frequency comparison

licencier#23,596
licenciés#17,991

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "licencier" and "licenciés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "licencier" is a verb and "licenciés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "licencier" or "licenciés"?
"licenciés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,991 in our French list, against #23,596 for "licencier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering licencier vs licenciés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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