éduquevséduquerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,114
“éduque” frequency rank
#14,392
“éduquer” frequency rank
52506
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éduque éduquer
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de éduquer. Former par l’éducation ; instruire.

Where the eye mixes éduque and éduquer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
éduque
7 ch
éduquer

Why the eye confuses éduque with éduquer

A purely visual mix-up. éduque (\e.dyk\) and éduquer (\e.dy.ke\) 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) - “éduque” sits inside “éduquer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éduque is recorded at frequency rank #38,114, classified as averb, pronounced \e.dyk\. éduquer is at rank #14,392, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.dy.ke\.

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 52506, this pair ranks #147,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éduque vs éduquer

Shared letters: dequé. Private to "éduque": -. Private to "éduquer": r.

"éduque" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "éduquer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "éduque" for "éduquer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\e.dyk\ versus \e.dy.ke\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "éduque" or "éduquer"?
"éduquer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,392 in our French list, against #38,114 for "éduque". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éduque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éduquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éduque" and "éduquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éduque vs eunuque". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #147,255 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