Which to use
“exposé” and “exposée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,488
- “exposé” frequency rank
- #9,655
- “exposée” frequency rank
- 14143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exposé | exposée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a été exposé, dans un musée, par exemple. | Féminin singulier de exposé. |
Where the eye mixes exposé and exposée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses exposé with exposée
A purely visual mix-up. exposé (\ɛk.spo.ze\) and exposée (\ɛk.spɔ.ze\) 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 extra letter(s) - “exposé” sits inside “exposée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exposé is recorded at frequency rank #4,488, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.spo.ze\. exposée is at rank #9,655, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.spɔ.ze\.
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 14143, this pair ranks #398,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of exposé vs exposée
Shared letters: eopsxé. Private to "exposé": -. Private to "exposée": -.
"exposé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "exposée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "exposé" for "exposée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "exposé" or "exposée"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "exposé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exposée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exposé" and "exposée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exposée vs exposez". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #398,006 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.