Which to use
“prodigue” is an adjective and “prodigués” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,483
- “prodigue” frequency rank
- #39,470
- “prodigués” frequency rank
- 65953
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prodigue | prodigués |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui dissipe son bien en libéralités excessives, en dépenses déraisonnables. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de prodiguer. |
Where the eye mixes prodigue and prodigués
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. prodigue runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVV) against prodigués's 9 (CCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses prodigue with prodigués
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prodigue is \pʁɔ.diɡ\ while prodigués is \pʁɔ.di.ɡe\. 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 65953, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prodigue is recorded at frequency rank #26,483, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.diɡ\. prodigués is at rank #39,470, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.di.ɡe\.
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 65953, this pair ranks #70,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of prodigue vs prodigués
Shared letters: dgiopru. Private to "prodigue": e. Private to "prodigués": sé.
"prodigue" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV · "prodigués" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- prodigue ← pordigue · pprodigue · prdoigue · proddigue · prodgiue · prodigeu · prodiggue · prodiuge
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "prodigue" and "prodigués" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "prodigue" or "prodigués"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prodigue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prodigués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prodigue" and "prodigués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prodiges vs prodigués". 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 #70,007 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.