Which to use
“agresser” is a verb and “agresseur” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,504
- “agresser” frequency rank
- #10,817
- “agresseur” frequency rank
- 24321
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | agresser | agresseur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entamer par la force, par la contrainte, par la surprise ou par la ruse l’intégrité physique, psychologique ou sexuelle d’une personne. | Celui qui agresse, attaque le premier. |
Where the eye mixes agresser and agresseur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. agresser runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against agresseur's 9 (VCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses agresser with agresseur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agresser is \a.ɡʁe.se\ while agresseur is \a.ɡʁɛ.sœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
agresser is recorded at frequency rank #13,504, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ɡʁe.se\. agresseur is at rank #10,817, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ɡʁɛ.sœʁ\.
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 24321, this pair ranks #347,265 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of agresser vs agresseur
Shared letters: aegrs. Private to "agresser": -. Private to "agresseur": u.
"agresser" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "agresseur" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "agresser" for "agresseur" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "agresser" or "agresseur" show up more?
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 "agresser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agresseur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,265 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "agresser" and "agresseur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agresseur vs assesseur". 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 #347,265 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.