interpellevsinterpellerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,158
“interpelle” frequency rank
#20,173
“interpeller” frequency rank
36331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interpelle interpeller
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de interpeller. Adresser la parole, d’une façon plus ou moins brusque, à quelqu’un pour lui demander quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes interpelle and interpeller

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

10 ch
interpelle
11 ch
interpeller

Look-alike desk: interpelle vs interpeller

A purely visual mix-up. interpelle (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl\) and interpeller (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “interpelle” sits inside “interpeller”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interpelle is recorded at frequency rank #16,158, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl\. interpeller is at rank #20,173, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\.

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 36331, this pair ranks #270,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of interpelle vs interpeller

Shared letters: eilnprt. Private to "interpelle": -. Private to "interpeller": -.

"interpelle" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV  ·  "interpeller" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interpelleinetrpelle · innterpelle · inteprelle · intereplle · interpele · interpelel · interplele · interppelle
  • interpellerinetrpeller · innterpeller · intepreller · interepller · interpelelr · interpeler · interpellerr · interpellre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "interpelle" and "interpeller" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛl\ versus \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pə.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "interpelle" vs "interpeller" - which ranks higher?
"interpelle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,158 in our French list, against #20,173 for "interpeller". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "interpelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interpeller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "interpelle" and "interpeller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interpellées vs interpeller". 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 #270,355 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