Which to use
“sauvage” is an adjective and “sauvé” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,361
- “sauvage” frequency rank
- #4,803
- “sauvé” frequency rank
- 8164
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sauvage | sauvé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se dit de certains animaux qui vivent en liberté dans les bois, dans le désert, etc. | Participe passé masculin singulier de sauver. |
Where the eye mixes sauvage and sauvé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sauvage runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against sauvé's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sauvage and sauvé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sauvage is \so.vaʒ\ while sauvé is \so.ve\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 8164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sauvage is recorded at frequency rank #3,361, classified as anadj, pronounced \so.vaʒ\. sauvé is at rank #4,803, tagged as averb, pronounced \so.ve\.
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 8164, this pair ranks #420,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sauvage vs sauvé
Shared letters: asuv. Private to "sauvage": eg. Private to "sauvé": é.
"sauvage" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "sauvé" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sauvage ← asuvage · sauavge · sauvaeg · sauvagge · sauvgae · sauvvage · savuage · ssauvage
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sauvage" and "sauvé" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sauvage" or "sauvé" show up more?
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 "sauvage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sauvé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sauvage" and "sauvé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Sadie vs sauvé". 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 #420,923 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.