Which to use
“figuré” is an adjective and “filtre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,364
- “figuré” frequency rank
- #6,298
- “filtre” frequency rank
- 22662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figuré | filtre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fait selon une certaine figure. | Corps poreux (feutre, papier, charbon, etc.) au travers duquel on fait passer une substance liquide, gazeuse ou corpusculaire (la lumière, le courant électrique), pour la clarifier, l’épurer ou en séparer certains éléments. |
Where the eye mixes figuré and filtre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: figuré vs filtre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: figuré is \fi.ɡy.ʁe\ while filtre is \filtʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22662, 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\. filtre is at rank #6,298, tagged as anoun, pronounced \filtʁ\.
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 22662, this pair ranks #356,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of figuré vs filtre
Shared letters: fir. Private to "figuré": gué. Private to "filtre": elt.
"figuré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "filtre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- filtre ← ffiltre · filltre · filrte · filter · filtrre · filttre · fitlre · flitre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "figuré" and "filtre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "figuré" or "filtre"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "figuré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filtre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figuré" and "filtre" 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 #356,772 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.