violéevsvioletteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: violée is a verb, violette is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“violée” is a verb and “violette” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,173
“violée” frequency rank
#12,281
“violette” frequency rank
26454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature violée violette
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de violer. Plante herbacée vivace de la famille des violacées appartenant au genre Viola.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set violée and violette apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
violée
8 ch
violette

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: violée is \vjɔ.le\ while violette is \vjɔ.lɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

violée is recorded at frequency rank #14,173, classified as averb, pronounced \vjɔ.le\. violette is at rank #12,281, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.lɛt\.

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 26454, this pair ranks #334,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of violée vs violette

Shared letters: eilov. Private to "violée": é. Private to "violette": t.

"violée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "violette" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • violetteivolette · viloette · vioeltte · violete · violetet · viollette · violtete · voilette

Frequency comparison

violée#14,173
violette#12,281

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "violée" and "violette" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "violée" is a verb and "violette" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "violée" or "violette"?
"violette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,281 in our French list, against #14,173 for "violée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering violée vs violette

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “violée”; for a noun, it's “violette”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “violée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list