aigrisvsaiguësTell them apart

Which to use

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

#46,567
“aigris” frequency rank
#33,965
“aiguës” frequency rank
80532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aigris aiguës
Definition Masculin pluriel de aigri. Féminin pluriel de aigu.

Where the eye mixes aigris and aiguës

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aigris (VVCCVC) and aiguës (VVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
aigris
6 ch
aiguës

Why the eye confuses aigris with aiguës

A purely visual mix-up. aigris (\e.ɡʁi\) and aiguës (\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 80532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aigris is recorded at frequency rank #46,567, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.ɡʁi\. aiguës is at rank #33,965, 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 80532, this pair ranks #20,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aigris vs aiguës

Shared letters: agis. Private to "aigris": r. Private to "aiguës": uë.

"aigris" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC  ·  "aiguës" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigris ← agiris · aiggris · aigirs · aigriss · aigrris · aigrsi · airgis · iagris

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aigris" and "aiguës" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.ɡʁi\ versus \e.ɡy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aigris" vs "aiguës" - which ranks higher?
"aiguës" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,965 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aigris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aiguës" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aigris" and "aiguës" 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 #20,699 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