gendrevsgereWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,178
“gendre” frequency rank
#41,804
“gere” frequency rank
54982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gendre gere
Definition Le mari de la fille ou du fils de quelqu’un. Avertisseur, corne, klaxon.

Where the eye mixes gendre and gere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gendre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against gere's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gendre
4 ch
gere

Look-alike desk: gendre vs gere

A purely visual mix-up. gendre (\ʒɑ̃dʁ\) and gere (\ɡe.re\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gendre is recorded at frequency rank #13,178, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒɑ̃dʁ\. gere is at rank #41,804, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡe.re\.

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 54982, this pair ranks #130,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gendre vs gere

Shared letters: egr. Private to "gendre": dn. Private to "gere": -.

"gendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "gere" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gendre ← egndre · gednre · genddre · gendrre · genndre · genrde · ggendre · gnedre
  • gere ← egre · geer · ggere · gree

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gendre" and "gere" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʒɑ̃dʁ\ versus \ɡe.re\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gendre" vs "gere" - which ranks higher?
"gendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,178 in our French list, against #41,804 for "gere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gendre" and "gere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gere vs glue". 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 #130,394 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