exagèrevsexagérerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,875
“exagère” frequency rank
#18,478
“exagérer” frequency rank
35353
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exagère exagérer
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de exagérer. Donner à une chose plus d’importance qu’elle n’en a en réalité.

Where the eye mixes exagère and exagérer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. exagère runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against exagérer's 8 (VCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
exagère
8 ch
exagérer

Visual trap between exagère and exagérer

A purely visual mix-up. exagère (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\) and exagérer (\ɛ.ɡza.ʒe.ʁe\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exagère is recorded at frequency rank #16,875, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\. exagérer is at rank #18,478, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ.ɡza.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 35353, this pair ranks #277,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exagère vs exagérer

Shared letters: aegrx. Private to "exagère": è. Private to "exagérer": é.

"exagère" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "exagérer" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exagère" and "exagérer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\ versus \ɛ.ɡza.ʒe.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "exagère" vs "exagérer" - which ranks higher?
"exagère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,875 in our French list, against #18,478 for "exagérer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "exagère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exagérer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exagère" and "exagérer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exacerber vs exagérer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #277,306 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