exagèrevsexigéeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,875
“exagère” frequency rank
#23,206
“exigée” frequency rank
40081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exagère exigée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de exagérer. Participe passé féminin singulier de exiger.

Where the eye mixes exagère and exigée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. exagère runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against exigée's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
exagère
6 ch
exigée

Why the eye confuses exagère with exigée

A purely visual mix-up. exagère (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\) and exigée (\ɛɡ.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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40081, 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\. exigée is at rank #23,206, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.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 40081, this pair ranks #243,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exagère vs exigée

Shared letters: egx. Private to "exagère": arè. Private to "exigée": ié.

"exagère" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "exigée" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exagère" and "exigée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\ versus \ɛɡ.zi.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "exagère" vs "exigée" - which ranks higher?
"exagère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,875 in our French list, against #23,206 for "exigée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "exagère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exagère" and "exigée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exigée vs exigez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #243,189 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