Which to use
“intrus” is an adjective and “Istres” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,474
- “intrus” frequency rank
- #37,393
- “Istres” frequency rank
- 57867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intrus | Istres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Introduit, contre le droit, dans quelque dignité ecclésiastique. | Commune française, située dans le département des Bouches-du-Rhône. |
Where the eye mixes intrus and Istres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. intrus and Istres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between intrus and Istres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intrus is \ɛ̃.tʁy\ while Istres is \istʁ\. 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 (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intrus is recorded at frequency rank #20,474, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tʁy\. Istres is at rank #37,393, tagged as aname, pronounced \istʁ\.
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 57867, this pair ranks #112,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intrus vs Istres
Shared letters: irst. Private to "intrus": nu. Private to "Istres": e.
"intrus" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC · "Istres" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "intrus" for "Istres" ever safe?
Frequency check: "intrus" vs "Istres" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "intrus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Istres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intrus" and "Istres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "isles vs Istres". 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 #112,468 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.