Which to use
“énerver” and “exercer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,619
- “énerver” frequency rank
- #4,232
- “exercer” frequency rank
- 14851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | énerver | exercer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agacer en produisant une irritation nerveuse. | Dresser, former, instruire à quelque chose par des actes fréquents. |
Where the eye mixes énerver and exercer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. énerver and exercer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between énerver and exercer
A purely visual mix-up. énerver (\e.nɛʁ.ve\) and exercer (\ɛɡ.zɛʁ.se\) 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 14851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
énerver is recorded at frequency rank #10,619, classified as averb, pronounced \e.nɛʁ.ve\. exercer is at rank #4,232, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.zɛʁ.se\.
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 14851, this pair ranks #394,936 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of énerver vs exercer
Shared letters: er. Private to "énerver": nvé. Private to "exercer": cx.
"énerver" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "exercer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exercer ← eexrcer · execrer · exerccer · exercerr · exercre · exerecr · exerrcer · exrecer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "énerver" and "exercer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "énerver" or "exercer"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "énerver" and "exercer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "énerver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exercer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,936 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "énerver" and "exercer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exaucer vs exercer". 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 #394,936 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.