Which to use
“acre” and “are” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,433
- “acre” frequency rank
- #6,166
- “are” frequency rank
- 34599
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acre | are |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unité de surface égale à 0,4 hectare ou à 4046,9 mètres carrés, encore utilisée en agriculture et dans divers pays avec des valeurs différentes. | Unité de mesure de surface de terrains, égale à 100 mètres carrés. |
Where the eye mixes acre and are
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses acre with are
A purely visual mix-up. acre (\akʁ\) and are (\aʁ\) 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 34599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acre is recorded at frequency rank #28,433, classified as anoun, pronounced \akʁ\. are is at rank #6,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ\.
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 34599, this pair ranks #282,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of acre vs are
Shared letters: aer. Private to "acre": c. Private to "are": -.
"acre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- acre ← accre · acrre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "acre" for "are" ever safe?
Frequency check: "acre" vs "are" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "acre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acre" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acre vs aur". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #282,700 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.