Which to use
“limit” is a noun and “limitée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,467
- “limit” frequency rank
- #3,772
- “limitée” frequency rank
- 36239
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | limit | limitée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Limite. | Féminin singulier de limité. |
Where the eye mixes limit and limitée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between limit and limitée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: limit is \ˈlɪm.ɪt\ while limitée is \li.mi.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “limit” sits inside “limitée”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
limit is recorded at frequency rank #32,467, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɪm.ɪt\. limitée is at rank #3,772, tagged as anadj, pronounced \li.mi.te\.
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 36239, this pair ranks #270,995 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of limit vs limitée
Shared letters: ilmt. Private to "limit": -. Private to "limitée": eé.
"limit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "limitée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- limit ← ilmit · liimt · limitt · limmit · limti · llimit · lmiit
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "limit" and "limitée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "limit" or "limitée" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "limit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "limitée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,995 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "limit" and "limitée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liait vs limit". 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 #270,995 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.