épicentre vs excentré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“épicentre” is a noun and “excentré” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,345
“épicentre” frequency rank: #45,598
“excentré” frequency rank: 80943
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	épicentre	excentré
Definition	Point de l’écorce terrestre situé à la verticale du foyer d’un séisme appelé hypocentre, centre réel du phénomène.	Placé en dehors du centre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set épicentre and excentré apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

épicentre

8 ch

excentré

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: épicentre is \e.pi.sɑ̃tʁ\ while excentré is \ɛk.sɑ̃.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épicentre is recorded at frequency rank #35,345, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pi.sɑ̃tʁ\. excentré is at rank #45,598, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.sɑ̃.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 80943, this pair ranks #19,805 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of épicentre vs excentré

Shared letters: cenrté. Private to "épicentre": ip. Private to "excentré": x.

"épicentre" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCCV · "excentré" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Frequency comparison

épicentre#35,345

excentré#45,598

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "épicentre" and "excentré" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "épicentre" is a noun and "excentré" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "épicentre" or "excentré"?

"épicentre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,345 in our French list, against #45,598 for "excentré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering épicentre vs excentré

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “épicentre”; for an adjective, it's “excentré”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “épicentre” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable