Which to use
“exterminer” and “exterminés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,539
- “exterminer” frequency rank
- #43,934
- “exterminés” frequency rank
- 63473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exterminer | exterminés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Détruire jusqu’à l’anéantissement. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de exterminer. |
Same sound, different letters: exterminer vs exterminés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. exterminer and exterminés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: exterminer vs exterminés
This is the hard kind. exterminer and exterminés are pronounced identically (\ɛk.stɛʁ.mi.ne\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exterminer is recorded at frequency rank #19,539, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛk.stɛʁ.mi.ne\. exterminés is at rank #43,934, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛk.stɛʁ.mi.ne\.
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 63473, this pair ranks #81,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of exterminer vs exterminés
Shared letters: eimnrtx. Private to "exterminer": -. Private to "exterminés": sé.
"exterminer" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC · "exterminés" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exterminer ← etxerminer · exetrminer · extemriner · exterimner · extermienr · exterminerr · exterminner · exterminre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "exterminer" for "exterminés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "exterminer" vs "exterminés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"exterminer" and "exterminés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "exterminer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exterminés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exterminer" and "exterminés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entériner vs exterminer". 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 #81,784 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.