églisevségoïsmeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#892
“église” frequency rank
#18,098
“égoïsme” frequency rank
18990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature église égoïsme
Definition Lieu de culte dans la religion chrétienne. Tendance a décider et agir en privilégiant son intérêt propre aux dépens de celui du reste du monde en général, ou d'autrui en particulier.

Where the eye mixes église and égoïsme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. église runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against égoïsme's 7 (VCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
église
7 ch
égoïsme

Look-alike desk: église vs égoïsme

A purely visual mix-up. église (\e.ɡliz\) and égoïsme (\e.ɡɔ.ism\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

église is recorded at frequency rank #892, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡliz\. égoïsme is at rank #18,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡɔ.ism\.

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 18990, this pair ranks #375,582 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of église vs égoïsme

Shared letters: egsé. Private to "église": il. Private to "égoïsme": moï.

"église" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "égoïsme" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "église" for "égoïsme" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\e.ɡliz\ versus \e.ɡɔ.ism\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "église" vs "égoïsme" - which ranks higher?
"église" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #892 in our French list, against #18,098 for "égoïsme". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "église" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "égoïsme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,582 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "église" and "égoïsme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "église vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #375,582 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