usedvsusésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,007
“used” frequency rank
#28,783
“usés” frequency rank
56790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature used usés
Definition Usé, usagé, d’occasion. Masculin pluriel de usé.

Where the eye mixes used and usés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
used
4 ch
usés

Look-alike desk: used vs usés

A purely visual mix-up. used (\ˈjuzd\) and usés (\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 56790, 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\. usés is at rank #28,783, 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 56790, this pair ranks #118,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of used vs usés

Shared letters: su. Private to "used": de. Private to "usés": é.

"used" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "usés" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • usedsued · uesd · usde · usedd · ussed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "used" for "usés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈjuzd\ versus \y.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "used" or "usés"?
"used" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,007 in our French list, against #28,783 for "usés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "used" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "usés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,888 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "used" and "usés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "urée vs usés". 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 #118,888 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list