uséevsusitéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,852
“usée” frequency rank
#41,053
“usité” frequency rank
71905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature usée usité
Definition Féminin singulier de usé. Qui est en usage, qui est pratiqué communément.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set usée and usité apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
usée
5 ch
usité

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. usée (\y.ze\) and usité (\y.zi.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

usée is recorded at frequency rank #30,852, classified as anadj, pronounced \y.ze\. usité is at rank #41,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced \y.zi.te\.

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 71905, this pair ranks #45,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of usée vs usité

Shared letters: sué. Private to "usée": e. Private to "usité": it.

"usée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "usité" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Frequency comparison

usée#30,852
usité#41,053

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "usée" and "usité" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\y.ze\ versus \y.zi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "usée" or "usité"?
"usée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,852 in our French list, against #41,053 for "usité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering usée vs usité

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 “usée” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list