renforcevsrenforcéesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“renforce” and “renforcées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,297
“renforce” frequency rank
#24,362
“renforcées” frequency rank
32659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature renforce renforcées
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de renforcer. Participe passé féminin pluriel de renforcer.

Where the eye mixes renforce and renforcées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
renforce
10 ch
renforcées

Look-alike desk: renforce vs renforcées

A purely visual mix-up. renforce (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\) and renforcées (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

renforce is recorded at frequency rank #8,297, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\. renforcées is at rank #24,362, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\.

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 32659, this pair ranks #295,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of renforce vs renforcées

Shared letters: cefnor. Private to "renforce": -. Private to "renforcées": .

"renforce" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "renforcées" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renforceernforce · refnorce · renfforce · renfocre · renforcce · renforec · renforrce · renfroce

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "renforce" and "renforcées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\ versus \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "renforce" vs "renforcées" - which ranks higher?
"renforce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,297 in our French list, against #24,362 for "renforcées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "renforce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "renforcées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "renforce" and "renforcées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réformées vs renforcées". 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 #295,819 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list