Which to use
“énergie” and “exergue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #861
- “énergie” frequency rank
- #20,138
- “exergue” frequency rank
- 20999
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | énergie | exergue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Force en action. | Petit espace réservé au bas d'une monnaie, d’une médaille (dans son champ), voire d'une cloche d'édifice religieux, pour y mettre une date, une inscription, une devise. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set énergie and exergue apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
énergie and exergue form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
énergie is recorded at frequency rank #861, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.nɛʁ.ʒi\. exergue is at rank #20,138, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zɛʁɡ\.
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 20999, this pair ranks #365,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "énergie" and "exergue" be used interchangeably?
Remembering énergie vs exergue
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “énergie” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable