aigrevsareWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aigre is a adjective, are is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aigre” is an adjective and “are” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,810
“aigre” frequency rank
#6,166
“are” frequency rank
37976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigre are
Definition Qui a une saveur acide et amère provoquant un sentiment désagréable. Unité de mesure de surface de terrains, égale à 100 mètres carrés.

Where the eye mixes aigre and are

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
aigre
3 ch
are

Look-alike desk: aigre vs are

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aigre is \ɛɡʁ\ while are is \aʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37976, 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\. are is at rank #6,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ\.

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 37976, this pair ranks #258,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aigre vs are

Shared letters: aer. Private to "aigre": gi. Private to "are": -.

"aigre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigreagire · aiger · aiggre · aigrre · airge · iagre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aigre" and "are" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aigre" is an adjective and "are" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "aigre" vs "are" - which ranks higher?
"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,166 in our French list, against #31,810 for "aigre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aigre" and "are" 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 #258,608 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