nettoievsnettoyéeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,684
“nettoie” frequency rank
#38,941
“nettoyée” frequency rank
55625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nettoie nettoyée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de nettoyer. Participe passé féminin singulier de nettoyer.

Where the eye mixes nettoie and nettoyée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. nettoie runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against nettoyée's 8 (CVCCVVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
nettoie
8 ch
nettoyée

Look-alike desk: nettoie vs nettoyée

A purely visual mix-up. nettoie (\nɛ.twa\) and nettoyée (\nɛ.twa.je\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nettoie is recorded at frequency rank #16,684, classified as averb, pronounced \nɛ.twa\. nettoyée is at rank #38,941, tagged as averb, pronounced \nɛ.twa.je\.

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 55625, this pair ranks #126,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nettoie vs nettoyée

Shared letters: enot. Private to "nettoie": i. Private to "nettoyée": yé.

"nettoie" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "nettoyée" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nettoie ← enttoie · netoie · netotie · nettioe · nettoei · nnettoie · ntetoie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nettoie" and "nettoyée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\nɛ.twa\ versus \nɛ.twa.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nettoie" vs "nettoyée" - which ranks higher?
"nettoie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,684 in our French list, against #38,941 for "nettoyée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "nettoie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nettoyée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nettoie" and "nettoyée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nettoyée vs nettoyés". 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 #126,268 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