Which to use
“ancrée” is an adjective and “ancrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,043
- “ancrée” frequency rank
- #34,860
- “ancrer” frequency rank
- 54903
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ancrée | ancrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de ancré. | Jeter l’ancre. |
Same sound, different letters: ancrée vs ancrer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. ancrée (VCCCVV) and ancrer (VCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - ancrée and ancrer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ancrée and ancrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.kʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ancrée is recorded at frequency rank #20,043, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.kʁe\. ancrer is at rank #34,860, tagged as averb, 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 54903, this pair ranks #130,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ancrée vs ancrer
Shared letters: acenr. Private to "ancrée": é. Private to "ancrer": -.
"ancrée" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV · "ancrer" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ancrer ← acnrer · anccrer · ancerr · ancrerr · ancrrer · anncrer · anrcer · nacrer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ancrée" and "ancrer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ancrée" or "ancrer"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "ancrée" / "ancrer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "ancrée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ancrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ancrée" and "ancrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ancrer vs answer". 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 #130,909 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.