bergèrevsbergerieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,272
“bergère” frequency rank
#31,845
“bergerie” frequency rank
58117
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bergère bergerie
Definition Gardienne de troupeau. Lieu où l’on enferme un troupeau de moutons, de brebis.

Where the eye mixes bergère and bergerie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. bergère runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against bergerie's 8 (CVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
bergère
8 ch
bergerie

Visual trap between bergère and bergerie

A purely visual mix-up. bergère (\bɛʁ.ʒɛʁ\) and bergerie (\bɛʁ.ʒə.ʁi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bergère is recorded at frequency rank #26,272, classified as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ.ʒɛʁ\. bergerie is at rank #31,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bɛʁ.ʒə.ʁi\.

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 58117, this pair ranks #110,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bergère vs bergerie

Shared letters: begr. Private to "bergère": è. Private to "bergerie": i.

"bergère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "bergerie" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bergeriebbergerie · begrerie · beregrie · bergeire · bergerei · bergerrie · berggerie · bergreie

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bergère" and "bergerie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bɛʁ.ʒɛʁ\ versus \bɛʁ.ʒə.ʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bergère" or "bergerie"?
"bergère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,272 in our French list, against #31,845 for "bergerie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bergère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bergerie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bergère" and "bergerie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bergerie vs Bergevin". 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 #110,932 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