dirigevsdirigezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dirige” and “dirigez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,529
“dirige” frequency rank
#40,214
“dirigez” frequency rank
43743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dirige dirigez
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de diriger. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de diriger.

Where the eye mixes dirige and dirigez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dirige runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against dirigez's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
dirige
7 ch
dirigez

Why the eye confuses dirige with dirigez

A purely visual mix-up. dirige (\di.ʁiʒ\) and dirigez (\di.ʁi.ʒe\) 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 “dirigez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43743, 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\. dirigez is at rank #40,214, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.ʁi.ʒe\.

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 43743, this pair ranks #215,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dirige vs dirigez

Shared letters: degir. Private to "dirige": -. Private to "dirigez": z.

"dirige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "dirigez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dirige ← ddirige · diirge · dirgie · dirieg · dirigge · dirrige · driige · idrige
  • dirigez ← ddirigez · diirgez · dirgiez · diriegz · dirigezz · diriggez · dirigze · dirrigez

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dirige" and "dirigez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\di.ʁiʒ\ versus \di.ʁi.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dirige" vs "dirigez" - which ranks higher?
"dirige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,529 in our French list, against #40,214 for "dirigez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dirige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dirigez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dirige" and "dirigez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dirigera 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 #215,765 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list