utilisaisvsutilisésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,803
“utilisais” frequency rank
#2,858
“utilisés” frequency rank
24661
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature utilisais utilisés
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de utiliser. Participe passé masculin pluriel de utiliser.

Where the eye mixes utilisais and utilisés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
utilisais
8 ch
utilisés

Look-alike desk: utilisais vs utilisés

A purely visual mix-up. utilisais (\y.ti.li.zɛ\) and utilisés (\y.ti.li.ze\) 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 24661, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

utilisais is recorded at frequency rank #21,803, classified as averb, pronounced \y.ti.li.zɛ\. utilisés is at rank #2,858, tagged as averb, pronounced \y.ti.li.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 24661, this pair ranks #345,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of utilisais vs utilisés

Shared letters: ilstu. Private to "utilisais": a. Private to "utilisés": é.

"utilisais" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC  ·  "utilisés" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • utilisaistuilisais · uitlisais · utiilsais · utiliasis · utilisaiss · utilisasi · utilisias · utilissais

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "utilisais" for "utilisés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\y.ti.li.zɛ\ versus \y.ti.li.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "utilisais" vs "utilisés" - which ranks higher?
"utilisés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,858 in our French list, against #21,803 for "utilisais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #345,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "utilisais" and "utilisés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "utilisais vs utiliserais". 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 #345,340 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