Which to use
“dirige” and “dirigea” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,529
- “dirige” frequency rank
- #18,170
- “dirigea” frequency rank
- 21699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dirige | dirigea |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de diriger. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de diriger. |
Where the eye mixes dirige and dirigea
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dirige with dirigea
A purely visual mix-up. dirige (\di.ʁiʒ\) and dirigea (\di.ʁi.ʒa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “dirige” sits inside “dirigea”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dirige is recorded at frequency rank #3,529, classified as averb, pronounced \di.ʁiʒ\. dirigea is at rank #18,170, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.ʁi.ʒa\.
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 21699, this pair ranks #361,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dirige vs dirigea
Shared letters: degir. Private to "dirige": -. Private to "dirigea": a.
"dirige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "dirigea" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dirige" for "dirigea" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dirige" vs "dirigea" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dirige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dirigea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,871 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dirige" and "dirigea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dirigea vs dirigez". 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 #361,871 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.