aigrevsaigrisConfusable pair

Which to use

“aigre” and “aigris” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,810
“aigre” frequency rank
#46,567
“aigris” frequency rank
78377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigre aigris
Definition Qui a une saveur acide et amère provoquant un sentiment désagréable. Masculin pluriel de aigri.

Where the eye mixes aigre and aigris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aigre runs 5 letters (VVCCV) against aigris's 6 (VVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
aigre
6 ch
aigris

Visual trap between aigre and aigris

A purely visual mix-up. aigre (\ɛɡʁ\) and aigris (\e.ɡʁi\) 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 78377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aigre is recorded at frequency rank #31,810, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡʁ\. aigris is at rank #46,567, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.ɡʁi\.

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 78377, this pair ranks #25,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aigre vs aigris

Shared letters: agir. Private to "aigre": e. Private to "aigris": s.

"aigre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "aigris" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigre ← agire · aiger · aiggre · aigrre · airge · iagre
  • aigris ← agiris · aiggris · aigirs · aigriss · aigrris · aigrsi · airgis · iagris

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aigre" for "aigris" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛɡʁ\ versus \e.ɡʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aigre" vs "aigris" - which ranks higher?
"aigre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,810 in our French list, against #46,567 for "aigris". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "aigre" and "aigris" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aigris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aigre" and "aigris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aigris vs aris". 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 #25,904 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list