aigrivsaiguTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,264
“aigri” frequency rank
#14,595
“aigu” frequency rank
46859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigri aigu
Definition Rendu aigre. Qui a un aspect pointu, tranchant, voire déchirant.

Where the eye mixes aigri and aigu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aigri runs 5 letters (VVCCV) against aigu's 4 (VVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
aigri
4 ch
aigu

Look-alike desk: aigri vs aigu

A purely visual mix-up. aigri (\ɛ.ɡʁi\) and aigu (\e.ɡy\) 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 46859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aigri is recorded at frequency rank #32,264, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ.ɡʁi\. aigu is at rank #14,595, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.ɡy\.

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 46859, this pair ranks #191,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aigri vs aigu

Shared letters: agi. Private to "aigri": r. Private to "aigu": u.

"aigri" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "aigu" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigri ← agiri · aiggri · aigir · aigrri · airgi · iagri
  • aigu ← agiu · aiggu · aiug · iagu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aigri" and "aigu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ.ɡʁi\ versus \e.ɡy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aigri" vs "aigu" - which ranks higher?
"aigu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,595 in our French list, against #32,264 for "aigri". 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 "aigri" and "aigu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aigri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aigu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aigri" and "aigu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aigri vs aigris". 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 #191,498 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