altérévsaltérerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: altéré is a adjective, altérer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“altéré” is an adjective and “altérer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,954
“altéré” frequency rank
#22,157
“altérer” frequency rank
49111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature altéré altérer
Definition Assoiffé. Modifier dans sa nature, dans sa structure, un corps.

Same sound, different letters: altéré vs altérer

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. altéré runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against altérer's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
altéré
7 ch
altérer

Homophone desk: altéré vs altérer

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: altéré and altérer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \al.te.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

altéré is recorded at frequency rank #26,954, classified as anadj, pronounced \al.te.ʁe\. altérer is at rank #22,157, tagged as averb, pronounced \al.te.ʁe\.

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 49111, this pair ranks #173,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of altéré vs altérer

Shared letters: alrté. Private to "altéré": -. Private to "altérer": e.

"altéré" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "altérer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "altéré" and "altérer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "altéré" is an adjective and "altérer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "altéré" vs "altérer" - which ranks higher?
"altérer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,157 in our French list, against #26,954 for "altéré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "altéré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "altérer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "altéré" and "altérer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actée vs altéré". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #173,399 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