Which to use
“brigade” and “brigue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,430
- “brigade” frequency rank
- #36,739
- “brigue” frequency rank
- 42169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brigade | brigue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corps de troupes composé de plusieurs bataillons, escadrons ou régiments, sous le commandement d’un officier général. | Manœuvre secrète et détournée pour obtenir de quelqu'un un avantage, intrigue, magouille. |
Where the eye mixes brigade and brigue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: brigade vs brigue
A purely visual mix-up. brigade (\bʁi.ɡad\) and brigue (\bʁiɡ\) 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 42169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brigade is recorded at frequency rank #5,430, classified as anoun, pronounced \bʁi.ɡad\. brigue is at rank #36,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bʁiɡ\.
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 42169, this pair ranks #227,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of brigade vs brigue
Shared letters: begir. Private to "brigade": ad. Private to "brigue": u.
"brigade" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "brigue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brigade" for "brigue" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "brigade" or "brigue" show up more?
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 "brigade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brigue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brigade" and "brigue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brigue vs briguer". 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 #227,687 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.