guèrevsguerraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: guère is a adverb, guerra is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,924
“guère” frequency rank
#42,371
“guerra” frequency rank
46295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guère guerra
Definition Presque pas ; presque rien. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de guerrer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
guère
6 ch
guerra

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

guère and guerra form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46295, 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\. guerra is at rank #42,371, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡɛ.ʁa\.

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 46295, this pair ranks #196,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

guère#3,924
guerra#42,371

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guère" and "guerra" be used interchangeably?
No, "guère" and "guerra" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering guère vs guerra

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “guère”; for a verb, it's “guerra”.
  • 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list