Which to use
“émigré” is an adjective and “énigme” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,212
- “émigré” frequency rank
- #12,087
- “énigme” frequency rank
- 33299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | émigré | énigme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a quitté son pays. | Jeu d’esprit mettant à l’épreuve la réflexion de l’interlocuteur qui doit répondre à une interrogation dont le sens est caché sous une parabole ou une métaphore. |
Where the eye mixes émigré and énigme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. émigré and énigme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: émigré vs énigme
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: émigré is \e.mi.ɡʁe\ while énigme is \e.niɡm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33299, 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\. énigme is at rank #12,087, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.niɡm\.
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 33299, this pair ranks #291,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of émigré vs énigme
Shared letters: gimé. Private to "émigré": r. Private to "énigme": en.
"émigré" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "énigme" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "émigré" and "énigme" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "émigré" vs "énigme" - 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 "émigré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "énigme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #291,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "émigré" and "énigme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émigré vs érige". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #291,578 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.