Which to use
“exercé” is a verb and “externe” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,320
- “exercé” frequency rank
- #4,576
- “externe” frequency rank
- 14896
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exercé | externe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de exercer. | Qui est, qui paraît au-dehors. |
Where the eye mixes exercé and externe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. exercé runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against externe's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: exercé vs externe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exercé is \ɛɡ.zɛʁ.se\ while externe is \ɛks.tɛʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exercé is recorded at frequency rank #10,320, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.zɛʁ.se\. externe is at rank #4,576, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛks.tɛʁn\.
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 14896, this pair ranks #394,734 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of exercé vs externe
Shared letters: erx. Private to "exercé": cé. Private to "externe": nt.
"exercé" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "externe" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- externe ← etxerne · exetrne · extenre · exteren · externne · exterrne · extrene · extterne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exercé" and "externe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "exercé" or "externe"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "exercé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "externe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,734 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exercé" and "externe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exercé vs exercera". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #394,734 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.