exagèrevsexaspèreTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,875
“exagère” frequency rank
#35,030
“exaspère” frequency rank
51905
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exagère exaspère
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de exagérer. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de exaspérer.

Where the eye mixes exagère and exaspère

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

7 ch
exagère
8 ch
exaspère

Look-alike desk: exagère vs exaspère

A purely visual mix-up. exagère (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\) and exaspère (\ɛɡ.zas.pɛʁ\) 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 51905, 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\. exaspère is at rank #35,030, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.zas.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 51905, this pair ranks #151,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exagère vs exaspère

Shared letters: aerxè. Private to "exagère": g. Private to "exaspère": ps.

"exagère" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "exaspère" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exagère" and "exaspère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\ versus \ɛɡ.zas.pɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "exagère" or "exaspère"?
"exagère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,875 in our French list, against #35,030 for "exaspère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "exaspère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exagère" and "exaspère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exagère vs exonéré". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,581 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