IIIevsivreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“IIIe” and “ivre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,973
“IIIe” frequency rank
#9,682
“ivre” frequency rank
27655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes IIIe and ivre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. IIIe (VVVV) and ivre (VCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
IIIe
4 ch
ivre

Look-alike desk: IIIe vs ivre

A purely visual mix-up. IIIe (\tʁwa.zjɛm\) and ivre (\ivʁ\) 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 27655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

IIIe is recorded at frequency rank #17,973, classified as anadj, pronounced \tʁwa.zjɛm\. 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 27655, this pair ranks #327,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of IIIe vs ivre

Shared letters: ei. Private to "IIIe": -. Private to "ivre": rv.

"IIIe" · 4 letters · shape VVVV  ·  "ivre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "IIIe" for "ivre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tʁwa.zjɛm\ versus \ivʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "IIIe" or "ivre"?
"ivre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,682 in our French list, against #17,973 for "IIIe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "IIIe" 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 #327,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "IIIe" and "ivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IIIe vs isi". 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 #327,685 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