Which to use
“étirer” and “exiger” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,030
- “étirer” frequency rank
- #7,824
- “exiger” frequency rank
- 35854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étirer | exiger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendre, allonger. | Demander quelque chose en vertu d’un droit légitime ou prétendu tel. |
Where the eye mixes étirer and exiger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. étirer and exiger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses étirer with exiger
A purely visual mix-up. étirer (\e.ti.ʁe\) and exiger (\eɡ.zi.ʒe\) 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 35854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étirer is recorded at frequency rank #28,030, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ti.ʁe\. exiger is at rank #7,824, tagged as averb, pronounced \eɡ.zi.ʒe\.
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 35854, this pair ranks #273,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étirer vs exiger
Shared letters: eir. Private to "étirer": té. Private to "exiger": gx.
"étirer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "exiger" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exiger ← eixger · exgier · exiegr · exigerr · exigger · exigre · exxiger · xeiger
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "étirer" and "exiger" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "étirer" or "exiger" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "étirer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exiger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #273,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étirer" and "exiger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs étirer". 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 #273,757 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.