Which to use
“centre” is a noun and “centrée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #344
- “centre” frequency rank
- #15,829
- “centrée” frequency rank
- 16173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | centre | centrée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Point qui, dans un cercle ou une sphère, est à égale distance de tous les points de la circonférence de ce cercle ou de la surface de cette sphère. | Féminin singulier de centré. |
Where the eye mixes centre and centrée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between centre and centrée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: centre is \sɑ̃tʁ\ while centrée is \sɑ̃.tʁe\. 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 16173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
centre is recorded at frequency rank #344, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃tʁ\. centrée is at rank #15,829, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\.
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 16173, this pair ranks #389,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of centre vs centrée
Shared letters: cenrt. Private to "centre": -. Private to "centrée": é.
"centre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "centrée" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- centre ← ccentre · cenntre · cenrte · centrre · centtre · cetnre · cnetre · ecntre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "centre" and "centrée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "centre" or "centrée"?
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 "centre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "centrée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #389,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "centre" and "centrée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centrée vs Césarée". 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 #389,037 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.