séparéesvsséparerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,593
“séparées” frequency rank
#4,811
“séparer” frequency rank
15404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature séparées séparer
Definition Féminin pluriel de séparé. Désunir des parties d’un même tout qui étaient jointes.

Same sound, different letters: séparées vs séparer

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. séparées runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against séparer's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
séparées
7 ch
séparer

Ear matches; page differs - séparées and séparer

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: séparées and séparer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \se.pa.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

séparées is recorded at frequency rank #10,593, classified as anadj, pronounced \se.pa.ʁe\. séparer is at rank #4,811, tagged as averb, pronounced \se.pa.ʁe\.

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 15404, this pair ranks #392,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of séparées vs séparer

Shared letters: aeprsé. Private to "séparées": -. Private to "séparer": -.

"séparées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "séparer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "séparées" and "séparer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "séparées" is an adjective and "séparer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "séparées" vs "séparer" - which ranks higher?
"séparer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,811 in our French list, against #10,593 for "séparées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "séparées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "séparer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "séparées" and "séparer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sépales vs séparées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #392,499 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