Which to use
“ancre” is a noun and “ancrés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,958
- “ancre” frequency rank
- #32,675
- “ancrés” frequency rank
- 46633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ancre | ancrés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Objet lourd au bout d’une corde ou chaine, qu’on laisse tomber au fond de l’eau afin d’empêcher un bateau de dériver. | Masculin pluriel de ancré. |
Where the eye mixes ancre and ancrés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ancre runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against ancrés's 6 (VCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ancre and ancrés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ancre is \ɑ̃kʁ\ while ancrés is \ɑ̃.kʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ancre is recorded at frequency rank #13,958, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃kʁ\. ancrés is at rank #32,675, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.kʁe\.
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 46633, this pair ranks #193,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ancre vs ancrés
Shared letters: acnr. Private to "ancre": e. Private to "ancrés": sé.
"ancre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "ancrés" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ancre ← acnre · anccre · ancer · ancrre · anncre · anrce · nacre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ancre" for "ancrés" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ancre" or "ancrés"?
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 "ancre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ancrés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #193,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ancre" and "ancrés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anales vs ancrés". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #193,392 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.