Which to use
“aigle” is a noun and “aigre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,110
- “aigle” frequency rank
- #31,810
- “aigre” frequency rank
- 40920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aigle | aigre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oiseau de proie rapace diurne à la vue perçante, au bec crochu à bords tranchants et aux pattes puissantes munies de serres pour saisir leurs proies. Il trompète ou glatit lorsqu’il pousse son cri. | Qui a une saveur acide et amère provoquant un sentiment désagréable. |
Where the eye mixes aigle and aigre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aigle and aigre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aigle is \ɛɡl\ while aigre is \ɛɡʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “aigle” becomes r in “aigre”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aigle is recorded at frequency rank #9,110, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡl\. aigre is at rank #31,810, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡʁ\.
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 40920, this pair ranks #236,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aigle vs aigre
Shared letters: aegi. Private to "aigle": l. Private to "aigre": r.
"aigle" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "aigre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aigle" and "aigre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "aigle" or "aigre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "aigle" and "aigre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aigle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aigre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,933 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aigle" and "aigre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aigre vs Aure". 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 #236,933 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.