Which to use
“surveillée” and “surveillés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,167
- “surveillée” frequency rank
- #25,143
- “surveillés” frequency rank
- 44310
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | surveillée | surveillés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de surveiller. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de surveiller. |
Same sound, different letters: surveillée vs surveillés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. surveillée (CVCCVVCCVV) and surveillés (CVCCVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - surveillée and surveillés
This is the hard kind. surveillée and surveillés are pronounced identically (\syʁ.ve.je\) 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 “surveillée” becomes s in “surveillés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
surveillée is recorded at frequency rank #19,167, classified as averb, pronounced \syʁ.ve.je\. surveillés is at rank #25,143, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.ve.je\.
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 44310, this pair ranks #211,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of surveillée vs surveillés
Shared letters: eilrsuvé. Private to "surveillée": -. Private to "surveillés": -.
"surveillée" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVV · "surveillés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "surveillée" and "surveillés" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "surveillée" vs "surveillés" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "surveillée" / "surveillés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "surveillée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surveillés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #211,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "surveillée" and "surveillés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surveillées vs surveillés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #211,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.