guère vs guéris, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,924
“guère” frequency rank: #28,186
“guéris” frequency rank: 32110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	guère	guéris
Definition	Presque pas ; presque rien.	Masculin pluriel de guéri.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

guère

6 ch

guéris

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guère is \ɡɛʁ\ while guéris 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 32110, 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\. guéris is at rank #28,186, 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 32110, this pair ranks #299,517 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of guère vs guéris

Shared letters: gru. Private to "guère": eè. Private to "guéris": isé.

"guère" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "guéris" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Frequency comparison

guère#3,924

guéris#28,186

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guère" and "guéris" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "guère" is an adverb and "guéris" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "guère" or "guéris"?

"guère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,924 in our French list, against #28,186 for "guéris". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering guère vs guéris

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 “guéris”.
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