Which to use
“dièse” is a noun and “digère” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,643
- “dièse” frequency rank
- #34,059
- “digère” frequency rank
- 67702
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dièse | digère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Symbole graphique, formé de deux doubles barres croisées, (♯) appartenant à la famille des altérations et dont la fonction est d’indiquer sur la partition, que la hauteur naturelle de la note associée à ce dièse, ou à la clef, sur la ligne où se place la note, doit être élevée d’un demi-ton chromatique. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de digérer. |
Where the eye mixes dièse and digère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dièse runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against digère's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dièse with digère
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dièse is \djɛz\ while digère is \di.ʒɛʁ\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67702, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dièse is recorded at frequency rank #33,643, classified as anoun, pronounced \djɛz\. digère is at rank #34,059, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.ʒɛʁ\.
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 67702, this pair ranks #62,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dièse vs digère
Shared letters: deiè. Private to "dièse": s. Private to "digère": gr.
"dièse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "digère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dièse" for "digère" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "dièse" or "digère" 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 "dièse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "digère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dièse" and "digère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dièse vs diez". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #62,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.