guèrevsguérieWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: guère is a adverb, guérie is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“guère” is an adverb and “guérie” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,924
“guère” frequency rank
#24,231
“guérie” frequency rank
28155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guère guérie
Definition Presque pas ; presque rien. Féminin singulier de guéri.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set guère and guérie apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
guère
6 ch
guérie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guère is \ɡɛʁ\ while guérie is \ɡe.ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guère is recorded at frequency rank #3,924, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɡɛʁ\. guérie is at rank #24,231, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡe.ʁi\.

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 28155, this pair ranks #324,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of guère vs guérie

Shared letters: egru. Private to "guère": è. Private to "guérie": .

"guère" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "guérie" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Frequency comparison

guère#3,924
guérie#24,231

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guère" and "guérie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "guère" is an adverb and "guérie" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "guère" or "guérie"?
"guère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,924 in our French list, against #24,231 for "guérie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering guère vs guérie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “guère”; for an adjective, it's “guérie”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “guère” 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