utilisévsutiliséeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,049
“utilisé” frequency rank
#2,974
“utilisée” frequency rank
4023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature utilisé utilisée
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de utiliser. Participe passé féminin singulier de utiliser.

Same sound, different letters: utilisé vs utilisée

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. utilisé runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against utilisée's 8 (VCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
utilisé
8 ch
utilisée

Ear matches; page differs - utilisé and utilisée

This is the hard kind. utilisé and utilisée are pronounced identically (\y.ti.li.ze\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “utilisé” sits inside “utilisée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

utilisé is recorded at frequency rank #1,049, classified as averb, pronounced \y.ti.li.ze\. utilisée is at rank #2,974, 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 4023, this pair ranks #432,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of utilisé vs utilisée

Shared letters: ilstué. Private to "utilisé": -. Private to "utilisée": e.

"utilisé" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "utilisée" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "utilisé" and "utilisée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\y.ti.li.ze\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "utilisé" vs "utilisée" - which ranks higher?
"utilisé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,049 in our French list, against #2,974 for "utilisée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"utilisé" and "utilisée" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #432,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "utilisé" and "utilisée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "utilisée vs utiliserez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #432,636 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