prêtéevsprêterWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#33,853
“prêtée” frequency rank
#5,910
“prêter” frequency rank
39763
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prêtée prêter
Definition Féminin singulier de prêté. Fournir, donner.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
prêtée
6 ch
prêter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prêtée is \pʁɛ.te\ while prêter is \pʁe.te\. 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 39763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prêtée is recorded at frequency rank #33,853, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɛ.te\. prêter is at rank #5,910, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.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 39763, this pair ranks #245,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prêtée vs prêter

Shared letters: eprtê. Private to "prêtée": é. Private to "prêter": -.

"prêtée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "prêter" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequency comparison

prêtée#33,853
prêter#5,910

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prêtée" and "prêter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prêtée" is an adjective and "prêter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prêtée" or "prêter"?
"prêter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,910 in our French list, against #33,853 for "prêtée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prêtée vs prêter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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