utilisévsutiliséesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,049
“utilisé” frequency rank
#4,298
“utilisées” frequency rank
5347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature utilisé utilisées
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de utiliser. Participe passé féminin pluriel de utiliser.

Same sound, different letters: utilisé vs utilisées

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. utilisé runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against utilisées's 9 (VCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
utilisé
9 ch
utilisées

Homophone desk: utilisé vs utilisées

This is the hard kind. utilisé and utilisées 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 2 extra letter(s) - “utilisé” sits inside “utilisées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5347, 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\. utilisées is at rank #4,298, 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 5347, this pair ranks #429,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of utilisé vs utilisées

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

"utilisé" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "utilisées" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "utilisé" and "utilisées" be used interchangeably?
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.
In ordinary French text, does "utilisé" or "utilisées" show up more?
"utilisé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,049 in our French list, against #4,298 for "utilisées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "utilisé" / "utilisées". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "utilisées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "utilisé" and "utilisées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "utilisées vs utiliserez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #429,268 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