Which to use
“hydre” and “hyène” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,859
- “hydre” frequency rank
- #38,350
- “hyène” frequency rank
- 76209
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hydre | hyène |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serpent fabuleux à plusieurs têtes qui renaissent dès qu’on lui en coupe une. | Mammifère carnassier digitigrade d’Asie et d’Afrique au pelage gris tacheté de brun. Précédée de de ou de la, l’élision est facultative, on peut donc aussi bien dire la hyène ou de hyène, que l’hyène ou d’hyène. |
Where the eye mixes hydre and hyène
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hydre with hyène
A purely visual mix-up. hydre (\idʁ\) and hyène (^((h aspiré))\jɛn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hydre is recorded at frequency rank #37,859, classified as anoun, pronounced \idʁ\. hyène is at rank #38,350, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\jɛn\.
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 76209, this pair ranks #31,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hydre vs hyène
Shared letters: ehy. Private to "hydre": dr. Private to "hyène": nè.
"hydre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hyène" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- hydre ← hdyre · hhydre · hyddre · hyder · hydrre · hyrde · hyydre · yhdre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hydre" for "hyène" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hydre" vs "hyène" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hydre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hyène" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,780 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hydre" and "hyène" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedge vs hydre". 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 #31,780 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.