idéevsivreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: idée is a noun, ivre is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“idée” is a noun and “ivre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#354
“idée” frequency rank
#9,682
“ivre” frequency rank
10036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature idée ivre
Definition Suggestion. Qui a le cerveau troublé par l’effet des boissons fermentées, par l’alcool, etc.

Where the eye mixes idée and ivre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
idée
4 ch
ivre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: idée is \i.de\ while ivre is \ivʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

idée is recorded at frequency rank #354, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.de\. ivre is at rank #9,682, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ivʁ\.

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 10036, this pair ranks #414,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of idée vs ivre

Shared letters: ei. Private to "idée": . Private to "ivre": rv.

"idée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "ivre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ivreiver · ivrre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "idée" and "ivre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "idée" is a noun and "ivre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "idée" or "ivre"?
"idée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #354 in our French list, against #9,682 for "ivre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "idée" and "ivre". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "idée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ivre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #414,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "idée" and "ivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ime vs ivre". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list