nettoyervsnettoyésTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,588
“nettoyer” frequency rank
#46,317
“nettoyés” frequency rank
51905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nettoyer nettoyés
Definition Rendre net et propre. Participe passé masculin pluriel de nettoyer.

Where the eye mixes nettoyer and nettoyés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. nettoyer and nettoyés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
nettoyer
8 ch
nettoyés

Why the eye confuses nettoyer with nettoyés

A purely visual mix-up. nettoyer (\ne.twa.je\) and nettoyés (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nettoyer is recorded at frequency rank #5,588, classified as averb, pronounced \ne.twa.je\. nettoyés is at rank #46,317, 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 51905, this pair ranks #151,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nettoyer vs nettoyés

Shared letters: enoty. Private to "nettoyer": r. Private to "nettoyés": sé.

"nettoyer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC  ·  "nettoyés" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nettoyer ← enttoyer · netotyer · netoyer · nettoeyr · nettoyerr · nettoyre · nettoyyer · nettyoer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nettoyer" and "nettoyés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ne.twa.je\ versus \nɛ.twa.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nettoyer" or "nettoyés"?
"nettoyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,588 in our French list, against #46,317 for "nettoyés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "nettoyer" and "nettoyés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nettoyer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nettoyés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nettoyer" and "nettoyés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nettoyés vs nettoyez". 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 #151,581 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