publicsvspubliéesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,234
“publics” frequency rank
#6,130
“publiées” frequency rank
7364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature publics publiées
Definition Masculin pluriel de public. Participe passé féminin pluriel de publier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set publics and publiées apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
publics
8 ch
publiées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: publics is \py.blik\ while publiées is \py.bli.je\. 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 7364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

publics is recorded at frequency rank #1,234, classified as anadj, pronounced \py.blik\. publiées is at rank #6,130, tagged as averb, pronounced \py.bli.je\.

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 7364, this pair ranks #423,384 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of publics vs publiées

Shared letters: bilpsu. Private to "publics": c. Private to "publiées": .

"publics" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "publiées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • publicspbulics · ppublics · pubblics · pubilcs · publcis · publiccs · publicss · publisc

Frequency comparison

publics#1,234
publiées#6,130

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "publics" and "publiées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "publics" is an adjective and "publiées" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "publics" or "publiées"?
"publics" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,234 in our French list, against #6,130 for "publiées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering publics vs publiées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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