exotiquevsexpliqueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: exotique is a adjective, explique is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“exotique” is an adjective and “explique” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,377
“exotique” frequency rank
#941
“explique” frequency rank
16318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exotique explique
Definition Qualifie ce qui, dans une perspective endémique fixée, est susceptible d’inspirer un sentiment d’étrangeté. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe expliquer.

Where the eye mixes exotique and explique

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

8 ch
exotique
8 ch
explique

Look-alike desk: exotique vs explique

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exotique is \ɛɡ.zɔ.tik\ while explique is \ɛk.splik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exotique is recorded at frequency rank #15,377, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡ.zɔ.tik\. explique is at rank #941, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛk.splik\.

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 16318, this pair ranks #388,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exotique vs explique

Shared letters: eiqux. Private to "exotique": ot. Private to "explique": lp.

"exotique" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV  ·  "explique" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exotiqueeoxtique · exoitque · exotiqeu · exotiqque · exotiuqe · exotqiue · exottique · extoique
  • expliqueepxlique · exlpique · expilque · expliqeu · expliqque · expliuqe · expllique · explqiue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exotique" and "explique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exotique" is an adjective and "explique" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "exotique" vs "explique" - which ranks higher?
"explique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #941 in our French list, against #15,377 for "exotique". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "exotique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "explique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exotique" and "explique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exotique vs exotisme". 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 #388,368 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