provoquévsprovoquéesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,909
“provoqué” frequency rank
#22,989
“provoquées” frequency rank
28898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature provoqué provoquées
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe provoquer. Féminin pluriel de provoqué.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
provoqué
10 ch
provoquées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: provoqué and provoquées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pʁɔ.vɔ.ke\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “provoqué” sits inside “provoquées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

provoqué is recorded at frequency rank #5,909, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɔ.ke\. provoquées is at rank #22,989, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁɔ.vɔ.ke\.

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 28898, this pair ranks #319,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of provoqué vs provoquées

Shared letters: opqruvé. Private to "provoqué": -. Private to "provoquées": es.

"provoqué" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV  ·  "provoquées" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVVC

Frequency comparison

provoqué#5,909
provoquées#22,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "provoqué" and "provoquées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "provoqué" is a verb and "provoquées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "provoqué" or "provoquées"?
"provoqué" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,909 in our French list, against #22,989 for "provoquées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering provoqué vs provoquées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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