aiguësvsaigusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,965
“aiguës” frequency rank
#25,878
“aigus” frequency rank
59843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aiguës aigus
Definition Féminin pluriel de aigu. Masculin pluriel de aigu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aiguës and aigus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
aiguës
5 ch
aigus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. aiguës 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aiguës is recorded at frequency rank #33,965, 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 59843, this pair ranks #100,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aiguës vs aigus

Shared letters: agisu. Private to "aiguës": ë. Private to "aigus": -.

"aiguës" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC  ·  "aigus" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aigusagius · aiggus · aigsu · aiguss · aiugs · iagus

Frequency comparison

aiguës#33,965
aigus#25,878

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aiguës" and "aigus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.ɡy\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "aiguës" or "aigus"?
"aigus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,878 in our French list, against #33,965 for "aiguës". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aiguës vs aigus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aiguës” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list