obtenuvsobtenueTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,828
“obtenu” frequency rank
#8,744
“obtenue” frequency rank
10572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obtenu obtenue
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de obtenir. Participe passé féminin singulier de obtenir.

Same sound, different letters: obtenu vs obtenue

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
obtenu
7 ch
obtenue

Ear matches; page differs - obtenu and obtenue

This is the hard kind. obtenu and obtenue are pronounced identically (\ɔp.tə.ny\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “obtenu” sits inside “obtenue”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obtenu is recorded at frequency rank #1,828, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tə.ny\. obtenue is at rank #8,744, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tə.ny\.

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 10572, this pair ranks #412,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obtenu vs obtenue

Shared letters: benotu. Private to "obtenu": -. Private to "obtenue": -.

"obtenu" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "obtenue" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obtenubotenu · obbtenu · obetnu · obtennu · obteun · obtneu · obttenu · otbenu
  • obtenuebotenue · obbtenue · obetnue · obteneu · obtennue · obteune · obtneue · obttenue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "obtenu" and "obtenue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɔp.tə.ny\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "obtenu" vs "obtenue" - which ranks higher?
"obtenu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,828 in our French list, against #8,744 for "obtenue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "obtenu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "obtenue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obtenu" and "obtenue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obtenu vs optent". 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 #412,458 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