étrangervsétrangesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,174
“étranger” frequency rank
#8,183
“étranges” frequency rank
9357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étranger étranges
Definition Relatif à ce qui vient de l’extérieur. Pluriel de étrange.

Where the eye mixes étranger and étranges

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

8 ch
étranger
8 ch
étranges

Look-alike desk: étranger vs étranges

A purely visual mix-up. étranger (\e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe\) and étranges (\e.tʁɑ̃ʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - r in “étranger” becomes s in “étranges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étranger is recorded at frequency rank #1,174, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe\. étranges is at rank #8,183, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ\.

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 9357, this pair ranks #416,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étranger vs étranges

Shared letters: aegnrté. Private to "étranger": -. Private to "étranges": s.

"étranger" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "étranges" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étranger" and "étranges" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe\ versus \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "étranger" vs "étranges" - which ranks higher?
"étranger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,174 in our French list, against #8,183 for "étranges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "étranger" and "étranges" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étranger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étranges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étranger" and "étranges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étranges vs étranglée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #416,947 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