soulignévssoulignésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: souligné is a noun, soulignés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“souligné” is a noun and “soulignés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,905
“souligné” frequency rank
#48,802
“soulignés” frequency rank
56707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature souligné soulignés
Definition Tiret bas. Participe passé masculin pluriel de souligner.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set souligné and soulignés apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
souligné
9 ch
soulignés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: souligné and soulignés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \su.li.ɲe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “souligné” sits inside “soulignés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

souligné is recorded at frequency rank #7,905, classified as anoun, pronounced \su.li.ɲe\. soulignés is at rank #48,802, tagged as averb, pronounced \su.li.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 56707, this pair ranks #119,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of souligné vs soulignés

Shared letters: gilnosué. Private to "souligné": -. Private to "soulignés": -.

"souligné" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV  ·  "soulignés" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

souligné#7,905
soulignés#48,802

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "souligné" and "soulignés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "souligné" is a noun and "soulignés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "souligné" or "soulignés"?
"souligné" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,905 in our French list, against #48,802 for "soulignés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering souligné vs soulignés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “souligné”; for a verb, it's “soulignés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “souligné” 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