allurevsaugureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,047
“allure” frequency rank
#19,747
“augure” frequency rank
25794
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allure augure
Definition Façon d’aller, de marcher. Présage par lequel on juge de l’avenir. Chez les Romains, il se disait des signes que les augures tiraient de l’observation du vol des oiseaux. Aujourd’hui il se dit de tout ce qui peut faire deviner l’avenir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set allure and augure apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
allure
6 ch
augure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. allure (\a.lyʁ\) and augure (\o.ɡyʁ\) 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 25794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allure is recorded at frequency rank #6,047, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.lyʁ\. augure is at rank #19,747, tagged as anoun, pronounced \o.ɡyʁ\.

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 25794, this pair ranks #338,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of allure vs augure

Shared letters: aeru. Private to "allure": l. Private to "augure": g.

"allure" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "augure" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allureallrue · alluer · allurre · alulre · alure · lalure
  • augureaguure · auggure · augrue · auguer · augurre · auugre · uagure

Frequency comparison

allure#6,047
augure#19,747

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "allure" and "augure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.lyʁ\ versus \o.ɡyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "allure" or "augure"?
"allure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,047 in our French list, against #19,747 for "augure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering allure vs augure

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 “allure” 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