Which to use
“usité” and “utile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,053
- “usité” frequency rank
- #1,726
- “utile” frequency rank
- 42779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | usité | utile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est en usage, qui est pratiqué communément. | Qui est profitable ou avantageux ; qui sert à quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes usité and utile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. usité and utile follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between usité and utile
A purely visual mix-up. usité (\y.zi.te\) and utile (\y.til\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
usité is recorded at frequency rank #41,053, classified as anadj, pronounced \y.zi.te\. utile is at rank #1,726, tagged as anadj, pronounced \y.til\.
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 42779, this pair ranks #223,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of usité vs utile
Shared letters: itu. Private to "usité": sé. Private to "utile": el.
"usité" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "utile" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- utile ← uitle · utiel · utille · utlie · uttile
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "usité" and "utile" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "usité" or "utile"?
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 "usité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "utile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "usité" and "utile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "uit vs usité". 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 #223,015 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.