prolongervsprolongésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,016
“prolonger” frequency rank
#37,494
“prolongés” frequency rank
45510
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prolonger prolongés
Definition Faire durer plus longtemps. Masculin pluriel de prolongé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prolonger and prolongés apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
prolonger
9 ch
prolongés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: prolonger and prolongés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prolonger is recorded at frequency rank #8,016, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe\. prolongés is at rank #37,494, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.lɔ̃.ʒe\.

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 45510, this pair ranks #202,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prolonger vs prolongés

Shared letters: glnopr. Private to "prolonger": e. Private to "prolongés": .

"prolonger" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "prolongés" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prolongerporlonger · pprolonger · prloonger · prollonger · prolnoger · prologner · prolonegr · prolongerr

Frequency comparison

prolonger#8,016
prolongés#37,494

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prolonger" and "prolongés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prolonger" is a verb and "prolongés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prolonger" or "prolongés"?
"prolonger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,016 in our French list, against #37,494 for "prolongés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prolonger vs prolongés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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