Which to use
“émigré” is an adjective and “émigrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,212
- “émigré” frequency rank
- #28,028
- “émigrer” frequency rank
- 49240
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | émigré | émigrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a quitté son pays. | Quitter son pays pour aller s’établir dans un autre. |
Same sound, different letters: émigré vs émigrer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. émigré runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against émigrer's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: émigré vs émigrer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: émigré and émigrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.mi.ɡʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
émigré is recorded at frequency rank #21,212, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.mi.ɡʁe\. émigrer is at rank #28,028, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.mi.ɡʁe\.
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 49240, this pair ranks #172,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of émigré vs émigrer
Shared letters: gimré. Private to "émigré": -. Private to "émigrer": e.
"émigré" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "émigrer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "émigré" for "émigrer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "émigré" vs "émigrer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "émigré" / "émigrer". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "émigré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "émigrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "émigré" and "émigrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émigré vs érige". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #172,252 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.