Which to use
“empiéter” and “empirer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,739
- “empiéter” frequency rank
- #18,191
- “empirer” frequency rank
- 58930
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empiéter | empirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Usurper dans ou sur la propriété d’autrui. | Rendre pire, faire devenir de pire qualité, de pire condition, mettre en pire état. |
Where the eye mixes empiéter and empirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. empiéter runs 8 letters (VCCVVCVC) against empirer's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses empiéter with empirer
A purely visual mix-up. empiéter (\ɑ̃.pje.te\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empiéter is recorded at frequency rank #40,739, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pje.te\. 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 58930, this pair ranks #106,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of empiéter vs empirer
Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "empiéter": té. Private to "empirer": -.
"empiéter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC · "empirer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- empirer ← emiprer · emmpirer · empierr · empirerr · empirrer · emppirer · emprier · epmirer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "empiéter" for "empirer" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "empiéter" or "empirer" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "empiéter" and "empirer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "empiéter" 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 #106,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empiéter" and "empirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empiète vs empiéter". 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 #106,084 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.