Which to use
“affreuse” and “affreux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,198
- “affreuse” frequency rank
- #8,649
- “affreux” frequency rank
- 27847
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | affreuse | affreux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de affreux. | Qui cause ou qui est propre à causer de la frayeur, de l’effroi. |
Where the eye mixes affreuse and affreux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: affreuse vs affreux
A purely visual mix-up. affreuse (\a.fʁøz\) and affreux (\a.fʁø\) 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 27847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
affreuse is recorded at frequency rank #19,198, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.fʁøz\. affreux is at rank #8,649, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.fʁø\.
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 27847, this pair ranks #326,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of affreuse vs affreux
Shared letters: aefru. Private to "affreuse": s. Private to "affreux": x.
"affreuse" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV · "affreux" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "affreuse" and "affreux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "affreuse" or "affreux"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "affreuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "affreux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "affreuse" and "affreux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "affreuse vs affreuses". 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 #326,421 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.