Which to use
“dénigre” and “désigne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,731
- “dénigre” frequency rank
- #4,935
- “désigne” frequency rank
- 45666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dénigre | désigne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de dénigrer. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de désigner. |
Where the eye mixes dénigre and désigne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dénigre and désigne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: dénigre vs désigne
A purely visual mix-up. dénigre (\de.niɡʁ\) and désigne (\de.ziɲ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dénigre is recorded at frequency rank #40,731, classified as averb, pronounced \de.niɡʁ\. désigne is at rank #4,935, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ziɲ\.
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 45666, this pair ranks #200,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dénigre vs désigne
Shared letters: deginé. Private to "dénigre": r. Private to "désigne": s.
"dénigre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "désigne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dénigre" and "désigne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "dénigre" or "désigne" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dénigre" and "désigne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dénigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désigne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dénigre" and "désigne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dengue vs dénigre". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #200,991 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.