Which to use
“exiler” and “expirer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,165
- “exiler” frequency rank
- #40,261
- “expirer” frequency rank
- 68426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exiler | expirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Envoyer en exil. | Rendre le dernier soupir. |
Where the eye mixes exiler and expirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. exiler runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against expirer's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses exiler with expirer
A purely visual mix-up. exiler (\ɛɡ.zi.le\) and expirer (\ɛks.pi.ʁe\) 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 68426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exiler is recorded at frequency rank #28,165, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.zi.le\. expirer is at rank #40,261, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛks.pi.ʁe\.
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 68426, this pair ranks #59,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of exiler vs expirer
Shared letters: eirx. Private to "exiler": l. Private to "expirer": p.
"exiler" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "expirer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exiler" and "expirer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "exiler" or "expirer"?
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 "exiler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "expirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exiler" and "expirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs expirer". 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 #59,253 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.