soulignée vs soulignés, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#34,317
“soulignée” frequency rank: #48,802
“soulignés” frequency rank: 83119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	soulignée	soulignés
Definition	Participe passé féminin singulier de souligner.	Participe passé masculin pluriel de souligner.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch

soulignée

9 ch

soulignés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. soulignée and soulignés are pronounced identically (\su.li.ɲe\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “soulignée” becomes s in “soulignés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

soulignée is recorded at frequency rank #34,317, classified as averb, 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 83119, this pair ranks #15,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of soulignée vs soulignés

Shared letters: gilnosué. Private to "soulignée": e. Private to "soulignés": -.

"soulignée" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVV · "soulignés" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

soulignée#34,317

soulignés#48,802

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "soulignée" and "soulignés" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\su.li.ɲe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "soulignée" or "soulignés"?

"soulignée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,317 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 soulignée vs soulignés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “soulignée” entry
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