maquilléevsmaquilleuseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maquillée is a verb, maquilleuse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maquillée” is a verb and “maquilleuse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,041
“maquillée” frequency rank
#45,162
“maquilleuse” frequency rank
81203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maquillée maquilleuse
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de maquiller. Personne qui fait métier de maquiller, au théâtre, au cinéma, dans un institut de beauté, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maquillée and maquilleuse apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
maquillée
11 ch
maquilleuse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maquillée is \ma.ki.je\ while maquilleuse is \ma.ki.jøz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maquillée is recorded at frequency rank #36,041, classified as averb, pronounced \ma.ki.je\. maquilleuse is at rank #45,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ki.jøz\.

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 81203, this pair ranks #19,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maquillée vs maquilleuse

Shared letters: aeilmqu. Private to "maquillée": é. Private to "maquilleuse": s.

"maquillée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVV  ·  "maquilleuse" · 11 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maquilleuseamquilleuse · maqiulleuse · maqquilleuse · maquileluse · maquileuse · maquillesue · maquilleues · maquilleusse

Frequency comparison

maquillée#36,041
maquilleuse#45,162

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maquillée" and "maquilleuse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maquillée" is a verb and "maquilleuse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maquillée" or "maquilleuse"?
"maquillée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,041 in our French list, against #45,162 for "maquilleuse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maquillée vs maquilleuse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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