érectionsvsexactionsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,397
“érections” frequency rank
#16,126
“exactions” frequency rank
61523
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature érections exactions
Definition Pluriel de érection. Pluriel de exaction.

Where the eye mixes érections and exactions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. érections and exactions follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
érections
9 ch
exactions

Why the eye confuses érections with exactions

A purely visual mix-up. érections (\e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\) and exactions (\ɛɡ.zak.sjɔ̃\) 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 61523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

érections is recorded at frequency rank #45,397, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\. exactions is at rank #16,126, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zak.sjɔ̃\.

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 61523, this pair ranks #91,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of érections vs exactions

Shared letters: ceinost. Private to "érections": ré. Private to "exactions": ax.

"érections" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC  ·  "exactions" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exactions ← eaxctions · exacctions · exacitons · exactinos · exactionns · exactionss · exactiosn · exactoins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "érections" for "exactions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛɡ.zak.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "érections" or "exactions" show up more?
"exactions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,126 in our French list, against #45,397 for "érections". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "érections" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exactions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "érections" and "exactions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éjection vs érections". 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 #91,799 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