1e vs 1st, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“1e” and “1st” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,787
“1e” frequency rank: #47,124
“1st” frequency rank: 62911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	1e	1st
Definition	Variante orthographique de eerste. Premier, 1ᵉʳ.	Abréviation de first. Premier, 1ᵉʳ.

Where the eye mixes 1e and 1st

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

1st

Look-alike desk: 1e vs 1st

A purely visual mix-up. 1e (\eːɾ.stǝ\) and 1st (\ˈfɝst\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

1e is recorded at frequency rank #15,787, classified as anadj, pronounced \eːɾ.stǝ\. 1st is at rank #47,124, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɝst\.

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 62911, this pair ranks #84,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of 1e vs 1st

Shared letters: none. Private to "1e": e. Private to "1st": st.

"1e" · 1 letters · shape V · "1st" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "1e" and "1st" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (\eːɾ.stǝ\ versus \ˈfɝst\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "1e" vs "1st" - which ranks higher?

"1e" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,787 in our French list, against #47,124 for "1st". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "1e" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "1st" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #84,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"1e" and "1st" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "1D vs 1st". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #84,609 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.