exilévsexpireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: exilé is a noun, expire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“exilé” is a noun and “expire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,950
“exilé” frequency rank
#23,207
“expire” frequency rank
41157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exilé expire
Definition Personne qui quitte volontairement ou non son lieu de vie original. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de expirer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exilé and expire apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
exilé
6 ch
expire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exilé is \ɛɡ.zi.le\ while expire is \ɛk.spiʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exilé is recorded at frequency rank #17,950, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zi.le\. expire is at rank #23,207, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛk.spiʁ\.

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 41157, this pair ranks #235,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exilé vs expire

Shared letters: eix. Private to "exilé": . Private to "expire": pr.

"exilé" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "expire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • expireepxire · exipre · expirre · exppire · exprie · exxpire · xepire

Frequency comparison

exilé#17,950
expire#23,207

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exilé" and "expire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exilé" is a noun and "expire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "exilé" or "expire"?
"exilé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,950 in our French list, against #23,207 for "expire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering exilé vs expire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “exilé”; for a verb, it's “expire”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “exilé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list