Which to use
“sign” is a noun and “signés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,257
- “sign” frequency rank
- #10,786
- “signés” frequency rank
- 42043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sign | signés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Panneau (routier, de rue) ; panonceau ; pancarte (sur un mur, une vitrine, etc.) ; affiche (publicitaire), écriteau (handmade sign). | Participe passé masculin pluriel de signer. |
Where the eye mixes sign and signés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sign runs 4 letters (CVCC) against signés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sign and signés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sign is \saɪn\ while signés is \si.ɲe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sign” sits inside “signés”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sign is recorded at frequency rank #31,257, classified as anoun, pronounced \saɪn\. signés is at rank #10,786, tagged as averb, pronounced \si.ɲe\.
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 42043, this pair ranks #228,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sign vs signés
Shared letters: gins. Private to "sign": -. Private to "signés": é.
"sign" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "signés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sign ← isgn · sgin · siggn · signn · ssign
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sign" and "signés" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sign" or "signés" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sign" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "signés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #228,643 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sign" and "signés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sign vs sind". 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 #228,643 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.