largeurvslarguerConfusable pair

Quick tell: largeur is a noun, larguer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“largeur” is a noun and “larguer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,148
“largeur” frequency rank
#19,890
“larguer” frequency rank
25038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature largeur larguer
Definition Étendue d’une chose considérée d’un de ses côtés à l’autre, par opposition à longueur. Lâcher une manœuvre, lâcher ou filer le cordage qui retient une voile par le bas.

Where the eye mixes largeur and larguer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. largeur and larguer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
largeur
7 ch
larguer

Visual trap between largeur and larguer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: largeur is \laʁ.ʒœʁ\ while larguer is \laʁ.ɡe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (eu ↔ ue) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

largeur is recorded at frequency rank #5,148, classified as anoun, pronounced \laʁ.ʒœʁ\. larguer is at rank #19,890, tagged as averb, pronounced \laʁ.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 25038, this pair ranks #343,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of largeur vs larguer

Shared letters: aeglru. Private to "largeur": -. Private to "larguer": -.

"largeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "larguer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • largeur ← alrgeur · lagreur · laregur · largeru · largeurr · larggeur · larrgeur · llargeur
  • larguer ← alrguer · lagruer · largguer · larguerr · largure · larrguer · laruger · llarguer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "largeur" and "larguer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "largeur" is a noun and "larguer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "largeur" or "larguer" show up more?
"largeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,148 in our French list, against #19,890 for "larguer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "largeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "larguer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #343,150 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "largeur" and "larguer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "larguée vs larguer". 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 #343,150 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