confèrevsconversWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: confère is a verb, convers is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“confère” is a verb and “convers” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,938
“confère” frequency rank
#48,431
“convers” frequency rank
60369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature confère convers
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de conférer. Qui était employé aux œuvres serviles d’un monastère.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set confère and convers apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
confère
7 ch
convers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: confère is \kɔ̃.fɛʁ\ while convers is \kɔ̃.vɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

confère is recorded at frequency rank #11,938, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.fɛʁ\. convers is at rank #48,431, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.vɛʁ\.

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 60369, this pair ranks #97,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of confère vs convers

Shared letters: cenor. Private to "confère": . Private to "convers": sv.

"confère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "convers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • converscconvers · cnovers · conevrs · connvers · converrs · converss · convesr · convres

Frequency comparison

confère#11,938
convers#48,431

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "confère" and "convers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "confère" is a verb and "convers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "confère" or "convers"?
"confère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,938 in our French list, against #48,431 for "convers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering confère vs convers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “confère”; for an adjective, it's “convers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “confère” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list