antigènevsanxiogèneWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: antigène is a noun, anxiogène is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“antigène” is a noun and “anxiogène” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,300
“antigène” frequency rank
#38,138
“anxiogène” frequency rank
82438
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature antigène anxiogène
Definition Substance étrangère à un organisme et provoquant chez celui-ci la constitution d’un anticorps. Qui suscite l’anxiété, l’angoisse, l’inquiétude.

Where the eye mixes antigène and anxiogène

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
antigène
9 ch
anxiogène

Why the eye confuses antigène with anxiogène

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: antigène is \ɑ̃.ti.ʒɛn\ while anxiogène is \ɑ̃k.sjɔ.ʒɛn\. 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 82438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

antigène is recorded at frequency rank #44,300, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.ti.ʒɛn\. anxiogène is at rank #38,138, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃k.sjɔ.ʒɛn\.

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 82438, this pair ranks #16,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of antigène vs anxiogène

Shared letters: aeginè. Private to "antigène": t. Private to "anxiogène": ox.

"antigène" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "anxiogène" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "antigène" and "anxiogène" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "antigène" is a noun and "anxiogène" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "antigène" or "anxiogène" show up more?
"anxiogène" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,138 in our French list, against #44,300 for "antigène". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "antigène" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anxiogène" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,744 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "antigène" and "anxiogène" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "antigène vs Antigone". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #16,744 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