Which to use
“aiguë” and “aigus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,192
- “aiguë” frequency rank
- #25,878
- “aigus” frequency rank
- 40070
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aiguë | aigus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier d'aigu. | Masculin pluriel de aigu. |
Same sound, different letters: aiguë vs aigus
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Homophone desk: aiguë vs aigus
This is the hard kind. aiguë and aigus are pronounced identically (\e.ɡy\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - ë in “aiguë” becomes s in “aigus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aiguë is recorded at frequency rank #14,192, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.ɡy\. aigus is at rank #25,878, 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 40070, this pair ranks #243,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aiguë vs aigus
Shared letters: agiu. Private to "aiguë": ë. Private to "aigus": s.
"aiguë" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "aigus" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aigus ← agius · aiggus · aigsu · aiguss · aiugs · iagus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aiguë" and "aigus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "aiguë" vs "aigus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"aiguë" and "aigus" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "aiguë" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aigus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aiguë" and "aigus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aigus vs ains". 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 #243,273 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.