Which to use
“1ère” and “1re” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,720
- “1ère” frequency rank
- #9,950
- “1re” frequency rank
- 15670
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | 1ère | 1re |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première. | Première. |
Same sound, different letters: 1ère vs 1re
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. 1ère runs 3 letters (VCV) against 1re's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - 1ère and 1re
This is the hard kind. 1ère and 1re are pronounced identically (\pʁə.mjɛʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
1ère is recorded at frequency rank #5,720, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁə.mjɛʁ\. 1re is at rank #9,950, 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 15670, this pair ranks #391,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of 1ère vs 1re
Shared letters: er. Private to "1ère": è. Private to "1re": -.
"1ère" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "1re" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "1ère" and "1re" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "1ère" or "1re"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "1ère" / "1re". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "1ère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "1re" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "1ère" and "1re" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "1D vs 1re". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #391,344 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.