privilègevsprivilégiéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: privilège is a noun, privilégiée is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“privilège” is a noun and “privilégiée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,732
“privilège” frequency rank
#11,835
“privilégiée” frequency rank
18567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature privilège privilégiée
Definition Faculté accordée à un particulier ou à une communauté de faire quelque chose ou de jouir de quelque avantage qui n’est pas de droit commun. Féminin singulier de privilégié.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch
privilège
11 ch
privilégiée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: privilège is \pʁi.vi.lɛʒ\ while privilégiée is \pʁi.vi.le.ʒje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

privilège is recorded at frequency rank #6,732, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.vi.lɛʒ\. privilégiée is at rank #11,835, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁi.vi.le.ʒje\.

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 18567, this pair ranks #377,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of privilège vs privilégiée

Shared letters: egilprv. Private to "privilège": è. Private to "privilégiée": é.

"privilège" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "privilégiée" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVVV

Frequency comparison

privilège#6,732
privilégiée#11,835

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "privilège" and "privilégiée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "privilège" is a noun and "privilégiée" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "privilège" or "privilégiée"?
"privilège" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,732 in our French list, against #11,835 for "privilégiée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering privilège vs privilégiée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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