Which to use
“espère” and “expire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #612
- “espère” frequency rank
- #23,207
- “expire” frequency rank
- 23819
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espère | expire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de espérer. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de expirer. |
Where the eye mixes espère and expire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. espère and expire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between espère and expire
A purely visual mix-up. espère (\ɛs.pɛʁ\) and expire (\ɛk.spiʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espère is recorded at frequency rank #612, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛs.pɛʁ\. expire is at rank #23,207, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛk.spiʁ\.
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 23819, this pair ranks #350,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of espère vs expire
Shared letters: epr. Private to "espère": sè. Private to "expire": ix.
"espère" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "expire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- expire ← epxire · exipre · expirre · exppire · exprie · exxpire · xepire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "espère" for "expire" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "espère" or "expire" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "espère" and "expire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "espère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "expire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espère" and "expire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "expier vs expire". 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 #350,276 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.