Which to use
“chiffre” is a noun and “chiffrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,946
- “chiffre” frequency rank
- #24,900
- “chiffrer” frequency rank
- 26846
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chiffre | chiffrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractère utilisé pour écrire les nombres. Par analogie avec les mots, on peut dire que les chiffres constituent l’alphabet des nombres. | Se servir des chiffres pour calculer. |
Where the eye mixes chiffre and chiffrer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. chiffre runs 7 letters (CCVCCCV) against chiffrer's 8 (CCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses chiffre with chiffrer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: chiffre is \ʃifʁ\ while chiffrer is \ʃi.fʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “chiffre” sits inside “chiffrer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chiffre is recorded at frequency rank #1,946, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʃifʁ\. chiffrer is at rank #24,900, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃi.fʁe\.
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 26846, this pair ranks #332,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of chiffre vs chiffrer
Shared letters: cefhir. Private to "chiffre": -. Private to "chiffrer": -.
"chiffre" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV · "chiffrer" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chiffre" and "chiffrer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "chiffre" vs "chiffrer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "chiffre" and "chiffrer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "chiffre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chiffrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chiffre" and "chiffrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chiffrée vs chiffrer". 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 #332,500 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.