gênéevsgenreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gênée is a adjective, genre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gênée” is an adjective and “genre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,212
“gênée” frequency rank
#250
“genre” frequency rank
18462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gênée genre
Definition Féminin singulier de gêné. Ensemble d’êtres, ou de choses, caractérisé par un ou des traits communs.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gênée and genre apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
gênée
5 ch
genre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gênée is \ʒe.ne\ while genre is \ʒɑ̃ʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 18462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gênée is recorded at frequency rank #18,212, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʒe.ne\. genre is at rank #250, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɑ̃ʁ\.

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 18462, this pair ranks #378,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gênée vs genre

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gênée": éê. Private to "genre": r.

"gênée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "genre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • genreegnre · gener · gennre · genrre · gerne · ggenre · gnere

Frequency comparison

gênée#18,212
genre#250

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gênée" and "genre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gênée" is an adjective and "genre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gênée" or "genre"?
"genre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #250 in our French list, against #18,212 for "gênée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gênée vs genre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “gênée”; for a noun, it's “genre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gênée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list