espéréevsespèresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,152
“espérée” frequency rank
#39,788
“espères” frequency rank
85940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espérée espères
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de espérer. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de espérer.

Where the eye mixes espérée and espères

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. espérée (VCCVCVV) and espères (VCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
espérée
7 ch
espères

Why the eye confuses espérée with espères

A purely visual mix-up. espérée (\ɛs.pe.ʁe\) and espères (\ɛs.pɛʁ\) 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 85940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espérée is recorded at frequency rank #46,152, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛs.pe.ʁe\. espères is at rank #39,788, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛs.pɛʁ\.

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 85940, this pair ranks #10,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of espérée vs espères

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "espérée": é. Private to "espères": è.

"espérée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "espères" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "espérée" and "espères" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛs.pe.ʁe\ versus \ɛs.pɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "espérée" vs "espères" - which ranks higher?
"espères" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,788 in our French list, against #46,152 for "espérée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "espérée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,502 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espérée" and "espères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espères vs expertes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,502 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