parléesvsparlesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#36,990
“parlées” frequency rank
#1,750
“parles” frequency rank
38740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes parlées and parles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. parlées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against parles's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
parlées
6 ch
parles

Look-alike desk: parlées vs parles

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parlées is \paʁ.le\ while parles is \paʁl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parlées is recorded at frequency rank #36,990, 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 38740, this pair ranks #253,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parlées vs parles

Shared letters: aelprs. Private to "parlées": é. Private to "parles": -.

"parlées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "parles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parlées" for "parles" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parlées" is an adjective and "parles" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "parlées" or "parles"?
"parles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,750 in our French list, against #36,990 for "parlées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "parlées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parlées" and "parles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parlées vs parlers". 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 #253,148 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