Which to use
“exterminés” is a verb and “externes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,934
- “exterminés” frequency rank
- #8,109
- “externes” frequency rank
- 52043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exterminés | externes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel de exterminer. | Pluriel de externe. |
Where the eye mixes exterminés and externes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. exterminés runs 10 letters (VCCVCCVCVC) against externes's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: exterminés vs externes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exterminés is \ɛk.stɛʁ.mi.ne\ while externes is \ɛk.stɛʁn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exterminés is recorded at frequency rank #43,934, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛk.stɛʁ.mi.ne\. externes is at rank #8,109, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.stɛʁn\.
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 52043, this pair ranks #150,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exterminés vs externes
Shared letters: enrstx. Private to "exterminés": imé. Private to "externes": -.
"exterminés" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC · "externes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- externes ← etxernes · exetrnes · extenres · exterens · externess · externnes · externse · exterrnes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exterminés" and "externes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "exterminés" or "externes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "exterminés" and "externes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "exterminés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "externes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exterminés" and "externes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exterminer vs exterminés". 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 #150,589 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.