noyévsnoyésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: noyé is a noun, noyés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“noyé” is a noun and “noyés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,949
“noyé” frequency rank
#22,352
“noyés” frequency rank
38301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature noyé noyés
Definition Personne qui se noie ou qui a péri par noyade. Masculin pluriel de noyé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set noyé and noyés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
noyé
5 ch
noyés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: noyé and noyés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \nwa.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “noyé” sits inside “noyés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

noyé is recorded at frequency rank #15,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \nwa.je\. noyés is at rank #22,352, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nwa.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 38301, this pair ranks #256,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of noyé vs noyés

Shared letters: noyé. Private to "noyé": -. Private to "noyés": s.

"noyé" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "noyés" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Frequency comparison

noyé#15,949
noyés#22,352

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "noyé" and "noyés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "noyé" is a noun and "noyés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "noyé" or "noyés"?
"noyé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,949 in our French list, against #22,352 for "noyés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering noyé vs noyés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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