Which to use
“used” and “usée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,007
- “used” frequency rank
- #30,852
- “usée” frequency rank
- 58859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | used | usée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Usé, usagé, d’occasion. | Féminin singulier de usé. |
Where the eye mixes used and usée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between used and usée
A purely visual mix-up. used (\ˈjuzd\) and usée (\y.ze\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
used is recorded at frequency rank #28,007, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈjuzd\. usée is at rank #30,852, tagged as anadj, pronounced \y.ze\.
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 58859, this pair ranks #106,471 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of used vs usée
Shared letters: esu. Private to "used": d. Private to "usée": é.
"used" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "usée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- used ← sued · uesd · usde · usedd · ussed
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "used" and "usée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "used" vs "usée" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "used" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "usée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,471 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "used" and "usée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "urée vs usée". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #106,471 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.