parléevsparlesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: parlée is a adjective, parles is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“parlée” is an adjective and “parles” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,272
“parlée” frequency rank
#1,750
“parles” frequency rank
20022
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parlée parles
Definition Féminin singulier de parlé. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de parler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parlée and parles apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
parlée
6 ch
parles

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parlée is \paʁ.le\ while parles is \paʁl\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parlée is recorded at frequency rank #18,272, classified as anadj, pronounced \paʁ.le\. parles is at rank #1,750, tagged as averb, pronounced \paʁl\.

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 20022, this pair ranks #370,328 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parlée vs parles

Shared letters: aelpr. Private to "parlée": é. Private to "parles": s.

"parlée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "parles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parlesaprles · palres · parels · parless · parlles · parlse · parrles · pparles

Frequency comparison

parlée#18,272
parles#1,750

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parlée" and "parles" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parlée" is an adjective and "parles" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "parlée" or "parles"?
"parles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,750 in our French list, against #18,272 for "parlée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parlée vs parles

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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