Which to use
“épée” and “erre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,724
- “épée” frequency rank
- #27,429
- “erre” frequency rank
- 32153
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | épée | erre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arme offensive et défensive composée d’une longue lame affilée de section triangulaire avec une poignée et que les guerriers portaient au côté dans un fourreau. | Lettre latine R, r. |
Where the eye mixes épée and erre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses épée with erre
A purely visual mix-up. épée (\e.pe\) and erre (\ɛʁ\) 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 32153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
épée is recorded at frequency rank #4,724, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pe\. erre is at rank #27,429, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛʁ\.
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 32153, this pair ranks #299,158 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of épée vs erre
Shared letters: e. Private to "épée": pé. Private to "erre": r.
"épée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "erre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- erre ← ere · erer · rere
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "épée" and "erre" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "épée" or "erre" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "épée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,158 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "épée" and "erre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erre vs errent". 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 #299,158 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.