Which to use
“figurant” and “figurine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,871
- “figurant” frequency rank
- #20,724
- “figurine” frequency rank
- 31595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figurant | figurine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui au théâtre ou au cinéma remplit un rôle généralement muet et secondaire. | Petite figure préhistorique ou antique de terre cuite, de bronze, d’argent, etc. |
Where the eye mixes figurant and figurine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. figurant (CVCVCVCC) and figurine (CVCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: figurant vs figurine
A purely visual mix-up. figurant (\fi.ɡy.ʁɑ̃\) and figurine (\fi.ɡy.ʁin\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
figurant is recorded at frequency rank #10,871, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.ɡy.ʁɑ̃\. figurine is at rank #20,724, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fi.ɡy.ʁin\.
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 31595, this pair ranks #302,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of figurant vs figurine
Shared letters: fginru. Private to "figurant": at. Private to "figurine": e.
"figurant" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "figurine" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "figurant" and "figurine" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "figurant" or "figurine" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "figurant" and "figurine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "figurant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "figurine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figurant" and "figurine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figurant vs filtrant". 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 #302,812 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.