Which to use
“émigrer” and “empirer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,028
- “émigrer” frequency rank
- #18,191
- “empirer” frequency rank
- 46219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | émigrer | empirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quitter son pays pour aller s’établir dans un autre. | Rendre pire, faire devenir de pire qualité, de pire condition, mettre en pire état. |
Where the eye mixes émigrer and empirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. émigrer (VCVCCVC) and empirer (VCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: émigrer vs empirer
A purely visual mix-up. émigrer (\e.mi.ɡʁe\) and empirer (\ɑ̃.pi.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
émigrer is recorded at frequency rank #28,028, classified as averb, pronounced \e.mi.ɡʁe\. empirer is at rank #18,191, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pi.ʁe\.
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 46219, this pair ranks #196,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of émigrer vs empirer
Shared letters: eimr. Private to "émigrer": gé. Private to "empirer": p.
"émigrer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "empirer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- empirer ← emiprer · emmpirer · empierr · empirerr · empirrer · emppirer · emprier · epmirer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "émigrer" and "empirer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "émigrer" or "empirer"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "émigrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #196,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "émigrer" and "empirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empirer vs épier". 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 #196,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.