surchargevssurchargésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,014
“surcharge” frequency rank
#39,562
“surchargés” frequency rank
56576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature surcharge surchargés
Definition Nouvelle charge ajoutée à la charge ordinaire, normale. Participe passé masculin pluriel de surcharger.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch
surcharge
10 ch
surchargés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: surcharge is \syʁ.ʃaʁʒ\ while surchargés is \syʁ.ʃaʁ.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

surcharge is recorded at frequency rank #17,014, classified as anoun, pronounced \syʁ.ʃaʁʒ\. surchargés is at rank #39,562, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.ʃaʁ.ʒe\.

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 56576, this pair ranks #120,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of surcharge vs surchargés

Shared letters: acghrsu. Private to "surcharge": e. Private to "surchargés": é.

"surcharge" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV  ·  "surchargés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • surchargesrucharge · ssurcharge · sucrharge · surcahrge · surccharge · surchagre · surchareg · surchargge

Frequency comparison

surcharge#17,014
surchargés#39,562

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "surcharge" and "surchargés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "surcharge" is a noun and "surchargés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "surcharge" or "surchargés"?
"surcharge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,014 in our French list, against #39,562 for "surchargés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering surcharge vs surchargés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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