extrémismevsextrémitéWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,861
“extrémisme” frequency rank
#6,394
“extrémité” frequency rank
30255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature extrémisme extrémité
Definition Opinion politique, économique, sociale, religieuse ou philosophique radicale, et qui peut servir de base théorique à des actions qui vont à l'encontre de la volonté ou des intérêts de tous. Le bout d’une chose, la partie qui la termine.

Where the eye mixes extrémisme and extrémité

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. extrémisme runs 10 letters (VCCCVCVCCV) against extrémité's 9 (VCCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
extrémisme
9 ch
extrémité

Why the eye confuses extrémisme with extrémité

A purely visual mix-up. extrémisme (\ɛk.stʁe.mism\) and extrémité (\ɛk.stʁe.mi.te\) 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 30255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extrémisme is recorded at frequency rank #23,861, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.stʁe.mism\. extrémité is at rank #6,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.stʁe.mi.te\.

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 30255, this pair ranks #311,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of extrémisme vs extrémité

Shared letters: eimrtxé. Private to "extrémisme": s. Private to "extrémité": -.

"extrémisme" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCCV  ·  "extrémité" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "extrémisme" and "extrémité" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛk.stʁe.mism\ versus \ɛk.stʁe.mi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "extrémisme" vs "extrémité" - which ranks higher?
"extrémité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,394 in our French list, against #23,861 for "extrémisme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "extrémisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extrémité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #311,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "extrémisme" and "extrémité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "extrémisme vs extrémiste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #311,537 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