Which to use
“1er” and “1ère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #893
- “1er” frequency rank
- #5,720
- “1ère” frequency rank
- 6613
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | 1er | 1ère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Premier. | Première. |
Where the eye mixes 1er and 1ère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. 1er runs 2 letters (VC) against 1ère's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses 1er with 1ère
A purely visual mix-up. 1er (\pʁə.mje\) and 1ère (\pʁə.mjɛʁ\) 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 6613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
1er is recorded at frequency rank #893, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mje\. 1ère is at rank #5,720, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\.
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 6613, this pair ranks #425,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of 1er vs 1ère
Shared letters: er. Private to "1er": -. Private to "1ère": è.
"1er" · 2 letters · shape VC · "1ère" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "1er" and "1ère" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "1er" vs "1ère" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "1er" and "1ère" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "1er" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "1ère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "1er" and "1ère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "1D vs 1er". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #425,747 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.