Which to use
“publics” is an adjective and “publiés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,234
- “publics” frequency rank
- #4,177
- “publiés” frequency rank
- 5411
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | publics | publiés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de public. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de publier. |
Where the eye mixes publics and publiés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. publics (CVCCVCC) and publiés (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: publics vs publiés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: publics is \py.blik\ while publiés is \py.bli.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “publics” becomes é in “publiés”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5411, 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\. publiés is at rank #4,177, 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 5411, this pair ranks #429,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of publics vs publiés
Shared letters: bilpsu. Private to "publics": c. Private to "publiés": é.
"publics" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "publiés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- publics ← pbulics · ppublics · pubblics · pubilcs · publcis · publiccs · publicss · publisc
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "publics" and "publiés" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "publics" vs "publiés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "publics" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "publiés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "publics" and "publiés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pubis vs publiés". 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 #429,082 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.