Which to use
“adressa” and “adresser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,394
- “adressa” frequency rank
- #5,723
- “adresser” frequency rank
- 40117
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adressa | adresser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe adresser. | Envoyer directement à une personne, en un lieu. |
Where the eye mixes adressa and adresser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. adressa runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against adresser's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses adressa with adresser
A purely visual mix-up. adressa (\a.dʁe.sa\) and adresser (\a.dʁe.se\) 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 40117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adressa is recorded at frequency rank #34,394, classified as averb, pronounced \a.dʁe.sa\. adresser is at rank #5,723, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.dʁe.se\.
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 40117, this pair ranks #242,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of adressa vs adresser
Shared letters: aders. Private to "adressa": -. Private to "adresser": -.
"adressa" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "adresser" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "adressa" for "adresser" ever safe?
Which is more common, "adressa" or "adresser"?
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 "adressa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adresser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adressa" and "adresser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adressa vs adressera". 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 #242,913 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.