exposervsexpulserWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“exposer” and “expulser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,954
“exposer” frequency rank
#14,037
“expulser” frequency rank
20991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exposer expulser
Definition Disposer de manière à mettre en vue. Chasser quelqu’un d’un lieu, d’un pays où il était établi, d’un bien dont il était en possession.

Where the eye mixes exposer and expulser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. exposer runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against expulser's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
exposer
8 ch
expulser

Look-alike desk: exposer vs expulser

A purely visual mix-up. exposer (\ɛks.po.ze\) and expulser (\ɛks.pyl.se\) 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 20991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exposer is recorded at frequency rank #6,954, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛks.po.ze\. expulser is at rank #14,037, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛks.pyl.se\.

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 20991, this pair ranks #365,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exposer vs expulser

Shared letters: eprsx. Private to "exposer": o. Private to "expulser": lu.

"exposer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "expulser" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exposer ← epxoser · exopser · expoesr · exposerr · exposre · exposser · expposer · expsoer
  • expulser ← epxulser · expluser · exppulser · expulesr · expullser · expulserr · expulsre · expulsser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "exposer" for "expulser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛks.po.ze\ versus \ɛks.pyl.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "exposer" vs "expulser" - which ranks higher?
"exposer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,954 in our French list, against #14,037 for "expulser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "exposer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "expulser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #365,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exposer" and "expulser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exposer vs exposez". 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 #365,434 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