variée vs variées, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17,587
“variée” frequency rank: #9,409
“variées” frequency rank: 26996
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	variée	variées
Definition	Féminin singulier de varié.	Féminin pluriel de varié.

Same sound, different letters: variée vs variées

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. variée runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against variées's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch

variée

7 ch

variées

Ear matches; page differs - variée and variées

This is the hard kind. variée 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 1 extra letter(s) - “variée” sits inside “variées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

variée is recorded at frequency rank #17,587, 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 26996, this pair ranks #331,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of variée vs variées

Shared letters: aeirvé. Private to "variée": -. Private to "variées": s.

"variée" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "variées" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "variée" for "variées" ever safe?

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, "variée" or "variées"?

"variées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,409 in our French list, against #17,587 for "variée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "variée" 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 #331,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"variée" and "variées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "varia vs variée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #331,625 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.