variévsvariéesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,083
“varié” frequency rank
#9,409
“variées” frequency rank
21492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature varié variées
Definition Qui présente des aspects ou éléments distincts. Féminin pluriel de varié.

Same sound, different letters: varié vs variées

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. varié runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against variées's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
varié
7 ch
variées

Same sound, different spelling - varié / variées

This is the hard kind. varié and variées are pronounced identically (\va.ʁje\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “varié” sits inside “variées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

varié is recorded at frequency rank #12,083, classified as anadj, pronounced \va.ʁje\. variées is at rank #9,409, tagged as anadj, pronounced \va.ʁje\.

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 21492, this pair ranks #362,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of varié vs variées

Shared letters: airvé. Private to "varié": -. Private to "variées": es.

"varié" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "variées" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "varié" and "variées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\va.ʁje\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "varié" or "variées"?
"variées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,409 in our French list, against #12,083 for "varié". 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 "varié" / "variées". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "varié" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "variées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "varié" and "variées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "varié vs Varois". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #362,907 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