précédésvsprêtéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: précédés is a verb, prêtées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#33,414
“précédés” frequency rank
#47,543
“prêtées” frequency rank
80957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature précédés prêtées
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de précéder. Féminin pluriel de prêté.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
précédés
7 ch
prêtées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: précédés is \pʁe.se.de\ while prêtées is \pʁɛ.te\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

précédés is recorded at frequency rank #33,414, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.se.de\. prêtées is at rank #47,543, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɛ.te\.

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 80957, this pair ranks #19,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of précédés vs prêtées

Shared letters: prsé. Private to "précédés": cd. Private to "prêtées": etê.

"précédés" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "prêtées" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

précédés#33,414
prêtées#47,543

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "précédés" and "prêtées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "précédés" is a verb and "prêtées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "précédés" or "prêtées"?
"précédés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,414 in our French list, against #47,543 for "prêtées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering précédés vs prêtées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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