Which to use
“4” is a num and “4e” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #161
- “4” frequency rank
- #6,157
- “4e” frequency rank
- 6318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | 4 | 4e |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quatre en chiffres arabes. | Quatrième. |
Letter map: 4 vs 4e
Shared letters muted; letters that set 4 and 4e apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for 4 / 4e
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: 4 is anum and 4eanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “4” sits inside “4e”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
4 is recorded at frequency rank #161, classified as anum. 4e is at rank #6,157, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.tʁi.jɛm\.
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 6318, this pair ranks #426,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of 4 vs 4e
Shared letters: none. Private to "4": -. Private to "4e": e.
"4" · 0 letters · shape · "4e" · 1 letters · shape V
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "4" for "4e" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "4" or "4e" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "4" and "4e". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "4" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "4e" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "4" and "4e" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "4e vs quatrièmes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #426,563 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.