signéesvssoignésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,562
“signées” frequency rank
#24,394
“soignés” frequency rank
41956
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature signées soignés
Definition Féminin pluriel de signé. Masculin pluriel de soigné.

Where the eye mixes signées and soignés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. signées (CVCCVVC) and soignés (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
signées
7 ch
soignés

Why the eye confuses signées with soignés

A purely visual mix-up. signées (\si.ɲe\) and soignés (\swa.ɲe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

signées is recorded at frequency rank #17,562, classified as anadj, pronounced \si.ɲe\. soignés is at rank #24,394, tagged as anadj, pronounced \swa.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 41956, this pair ranks #229,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of signées vs soignés

Shared letters: ginsé. Private to "signées": e. Private to "soignés": o.

"signées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "soignés" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "signées" for "soignés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\si.ɲe\ versus \swa.ɲe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "signées" or "soignés"?
"signées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,562 in our French list, against #24,394 for "soignés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "signées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "soignés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "signées" and "soignés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soignés vs soulignés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,288 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