Which to use
“figuré” is an adjective and “figurer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,364
- “figuré” frequency rank
- #10,161
- “figurer” frequency rank
- 26525
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figuré | figurer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fait selon une certaine figure. | Représenter par le dessin, par la peinture, par la sculpture, etc. |
Same sound, different letters: figuré vs figurer
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. figuré runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against figurer's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - figuré and figurer
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: figuré and figurer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fi.ɡy.ʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
figuré is recorded at frequency rank #16,364, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ɡy.ʁe\. figurer is at rank #10,161, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.ɡy.ʁe\.
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 26525, this pair ranks #334,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of figuré vs figurer
Shared letters: fgiru. Private to "figuré": é. Private to "figurer": e.
"figuré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "figurer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- figurer ← ffigurer · fgiurer · figgurer · figruer · figuerr · figurerr · figurre · figurrer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "figuré" and "figurer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "figuré" or "figurer"?
What to do next
"figuré" and "figurer" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "figuré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "figurer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #334,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figuré" and "figurer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figer vs figuré". 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 #334,450 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.