enterrervsentrerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“enterrer” and “entrer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,962
“enterrer” frequency rank
#1,410
“entrer” frequency rank
13372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enterrer entrer
Definition Enfouir ; mettre dans la terre. Aller de dehors vers dedans.

Where the eye mixes enterrer and entrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
enterrer
6 ch
entrer

Why the eye confuses enterrer with entrer

A purely visual mix-up. enterrer (\ɑ̃.te.ʁe\) and entrer (\ɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enterrer is recorded at frequency rank #11,962, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.te.ʁe\. entrer is at rank #1,410, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 13372, this pair ranks #401,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of enterrer vs entrer

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "enterrer": -. Private to "entrer": -.

"enterrer" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "entrer" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enterrerenetrrer · ennterrer · enterer · entererr · enterrerr · enterrre · entrerer · entterrer
  • entrerenntrer · enrter · enterr · entrerr · entrrer · enttrer · etnrer · netrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enterrer" and "entrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.te.ʁe\ versus \ɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "enterrer" or "entrer" show up more?
"entrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,410 in our French list, against #11,962 for "enterrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "enterrer" and "entrer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enterrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enterrer" and "entrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entériner vs enterrer". 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 #401,290 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list