allégéevsallègreTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,166
“allégée” frequency rank
#42,147
“allègre” frequency rank
79313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allégée allègre
Definition Féminin singulier de allégé. Plein d’entrain, joyeux.

Where the eye mixes allégée and allègre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. allégée (VCCVCVV) and allègre (VCCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
allégée
7 ch
allègre

Look-alike desk: allégée vs allègre

A purely visual mix-up. allégée (\a.le.ʒe\) and allègre (\a.lɛɡʁ\) 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 79313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allégée is recorded at frequency rank #37,166, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.le.ʒe\. allègre is at rank #42,147, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.lɛɡʁ\.

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 79313, this pair ranks #23,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of allégée vs allègre

Shared letters: aegl. Private to "allégée": é. Private to "allègre": .

"allégée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "allègre" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allégée" and "allègre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.le.ʒe\ versus \a.lɛɡʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "allégée" vs "allègre" - which ranks higher?
"allégée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,166 in our French list, against #42,147 for "allègre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "allégée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "allègre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "allégée" and "allègre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allègre vs allègue". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #23,614 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