Which to use
“intrigue” is a noun and “intriguée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,968
- “intrigue” frequency rank
- #49,737
- “intriguée” frequency rank
- 56705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intrigue | intriguée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pratique secrète qu’on emploie pour faire réussir ou pour faire manquer une affaire. | Participe passé féminin singulier de intriguer. |
Where the eye mixes intrigue and intriguée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses intrigue with intriguée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intrigue is \ɛ̃t.ʁiɡ\ while intriguée is \ɛ̃.tʁi.ɡe\. 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 56705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intrigue is recorded at frequency rank #6,968, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃t.ʁiɡ\. intriguée is at rank #49,737, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.tʁi.ɡe\.
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 56705, this pair ranks #119,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intrigue vs intriguée
Shared letters: eginrtu. Private to "intrigue": -. Private to "intriguée": é.
"intrigue" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVV · "intriguée" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intrigue ← inntrigue · inrtigue · intirgue · intrgiue · intrigeu · intriggue · intriuge · intrrigue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intrigue" for "intriguée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "intrigue" or "intriguée"?
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 "intrigue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intriguée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intrigue" and "intriguée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intriguée vs intrigues". 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 #119,430 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.