hypothèquevshypothéquerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hypothèque is a noun, hypothéquer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hypothèque” is a noun and “hypothéquer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,154
“hypothèque” frequency rank
#49,135
“hypothéquer” frequency rank
66289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hypothèque hypothéquer
Definition Accord entre celui qui emprunte de l’argent (le propriétaire) et celui qui fournit l’argent (le créancier). Si le montant d’argent (qui est égal à la valeur de la propriété) n’est pas remboursé, le créancier peut faire réaliser le bien, généralement par vente aux enchères, afin d'obtenir la somme qui lui est due. (En jargon juridique : droit réel qui grève les immeubles affectés à la sûreté, à l’acquittement d’une obligation, d’une dette, et qui les suit en quelques mains qu’ils passent.) Soumettre à l’hypothèque ; donner pour hypothèque.

Where the eye mixes hypothèque and hypothéquer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
hypothèque
11 ch
hypothéquer

Why the eye confuses hypothèque with hypothéquer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hypothèque is \i.pɔ.tɛk\ while hypothéquer is \i.pɔ.te.ke\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hypothèque is recorded at frequency rank #17,154, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.pɔ.tɛk\. hypothéquer is at rank #49,135, tagged as averb, pronounced \i.pɔ.te.ke\.

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 66289, this pair ranks #68,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hypothèque vs hypothéquer

Shared letters: ehopqtuy. Private to "hypothèque": è. Private to "hypothéquer": .

"hypothèque" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV  ·  "hypothéquer" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hypothèque" and "hypothéquer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hypothèque" is a noun and "hypothéquer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "hypothèque" or "hypothéquer" show up more?
"hypothèque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,154 in our French list, against #49,135 for "hypothéquer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "hypothèque" and "hypothéquer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hypothèque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hypothéquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hypothèque" and "hypothéquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hypothéquer vs hypothèques". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list