Which to use
“parlé” is an adjective and “passé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,272
- “parlé” frequency rank
- #318
- “passé” frequency rank
- 1590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parlé | passé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Utilisé quand on parle (par opposition à littéraire). | Le temps écoulé. |
Where the eye mixes parlé and passé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. parlé and passé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between parlé and passé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parlé is \paʁ.le\ while passé is \pa.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parlé is recorded at frequency rank #1,272, classified as anadj, pronounced \paʁ.le\. passé is at rank #318, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.se\.
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 1590, this pair ranks #437,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of parlé vs passé
Shared letters: apé. Private to "parlé": lr. Private to "passé": s.
"parlé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "passé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parlé" and "passé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "parlé" vs "passé" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "parlé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parlé" and "passé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paddle vs parlé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #437,770 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.