exagérervsexagèresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,478
“exagérer” frequency rank
#42,866
“exagères” frequency rank
61344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes exagérer and exagères

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
exagérer
8 ch
exagères

Visual trap between exagérer and exagères

A purely visual mix-up. exagérer (\ɛ.ɡza.ʒe.ʁe\) and exagères (\ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exagérer is recorded at frequency rank #18,478, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ.ɡza.ʒe.ʁe\. exagères is at rank #42,866, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\.

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 61344, this pair ranks #92,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of exagérer vs exagères

Shared letters: aegrx. Private to "exagérer": é. Private to "exagères": .

"exagérer" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC  ·  "exagères" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exagérer" and "exagères" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ.ɡza.ʒe.ʁe\ versus \ɛɡ.za.ʒɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "exagérer" or "exagères" show up more?
"exagérer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,478 in our French list, against #42,866 for "exagères". 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 "exagérer" and "exagères" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "exagérer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exagères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exagérer" and "exagères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exagèrent vs exagères". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #92,767 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