précipitavsprécipitésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#49,877
“précipita” frequency rank
#36,114
“précipités” frequency rank
85991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature précipita précipités
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de précipiter. Masculin pluriel de précipité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set précipita and précipités apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
précipita
10 ch
précipités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: précipita is \pʁe.si.pi.ta\ while précipités is \pʁe.si.pi.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 85991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

précipita is recorded at frequency rank #49,877, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.si.pi.ta\. précipités is at rank #36,114, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.si.pi.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 85991, this pair ranks #10,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of précipita vs précipités

Shared letters: ciprté. Private to "précipita": a. Private to "précipités": s.

"précipita" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "précipités" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

précipita#49,877
précipités#36,114

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "précipita" and "précipités" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "précipita" is a verb and "précipités" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "précipita" or "précipités"?
"précipités" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,114 in our French list, against #49,877 for "précipita". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering précipita vs précipités

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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