Which to use
“étagère” is a noun and “exagérée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,620
- “étagère” frequency rank
- #23,204
- “exagérée” frequency rank
- 43824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étagère | exagérée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Planche fixée horizontalement et destinée au rangement. | Féminin singulier de exagéré. |
Where the eye mixes étagère and exagérée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. étagère runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against exagérée's 8 (VCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between étagère and exagérée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étagère is \e.ta.ʒɛʁ\ while exagérée is \ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe\. 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 43824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étagère is recorded at frequency rank #20,620, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ta.ʒɛʁ\. exagérée is at rank #23,204, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡ.za.ʒe.ʁe\.
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 43824, this pair ranks #215,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étagère vs exagérée
Shared letters: aegré. Private to "étagère": tè. Private to "exagérée": x.
"étagère" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "exagérée" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "étagère" for "exagérée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "étagère" or "exagérée" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "étagère" and "exagérée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "étagère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exagérée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étagère" and "exagérée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étagère vs étayée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #215,104 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.