aigrivsaiguëWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,264
“aigri” frequency rank
#14,192
“aiguë” frequency rank
46456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigri aiguë
Definition Rendu aigre. Féminin singulier d'aigu.

Where the eye mixes aigri and aiguë

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aigri (VVCCV) and aiguë (VVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
aigri
5 ch
aiguë

Visual trap between aigri and aiguë

A purely visual mix-up. aigri (\ɛ.ɡʁi\) and aiguë (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46456, 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\. aiguë is at rank #14,192, 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 46456, this pair ranks #194,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aigri vs aiguë

Shared letters: agi. Private to "aigri": r. Private to "aiguë": uë.

"aigri" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "aiguë" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigri ← agiri · aiggri · aigir · aigrri · airgi · iagri

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aigri" and "aiguë" be used interchangeably?
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.
Which is more common, "aigri" or "aiguë"?
"aiguë" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,192 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "aigri" and "aiguë" 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 "aiguë" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aigri" and "aiguë" 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 #194,799 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