aiguë vs aisé, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#14,192
“aiguë” frequency rank: #12,711
“aisé” frequency rank: 26903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	aiguë	aisé
Definition	Féminin singulier d'aigu.	Facile à faire, simple, sans problème.

Where the eye mixes aiguë and aisé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch

aiguë

4 ch

aisé

Why the eye confuses aiguë with aisé

A purely visual mix-up. aiguë (\e.ɡy\) and aisé (\ɛ.ze\) 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 26903, 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\. aisé is at rank #12,711, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ.ze\.

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 26903, this pair ranks #332,140 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aiguë vs aisé

Shared letters: ai. Private to "aiguë": guë. Private to "aisé": sé.

"aiguë" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "aisé" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aiguë" and "aisé" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\e.ɡy\ versus \ɛ.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "aiguë" vs "aisé" - which ranks higher?

"aisé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,711 in our French list, against #14,192 for "aiguë". 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 "aiguë" and "aisé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "aiguë" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "aisé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #332,140 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"aiguë" and "aisé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aisé vs Aure". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #332,140 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.