ruinévsruinéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,469
“ruiné” frequency rank
#24,014
“ruinée” frequency rank
37483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ruiné ruinée
Definition Qui a perdu sa fortune. Féminin singulier de ruiné.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ruiné and ruinée apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
ruiné
6 ch
ruinée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. ruiné and ruinée are pronounced identically (\ʁɥi.ne\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ruiné” sits inside “ruinée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ruiné is recorded at frequency rank #13,469, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁɥi.ne\. ruinée is at rank #24,014, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁɥi.ne\.

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 37483, this pair ranks #262,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ruiné vs ruinée

Shared letters: inrué. Private to "ruiné": -. Private to "ruinée": e.

"ruiné" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "ruinée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequency comparison

ruiné#13,469
ruinée#24,014

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ruiné" and "ruinée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁɥi.ne\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "ruiné" or "ruinée"?
"ruiné" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,469 in our French list, against #24,014 for "ruinée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ruiné vs ruinée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ruiné” 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