maigrevsmigréTell them apart

Quick tell: maigre is a adjective, migré is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maigre” is an adjective and “migré” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,733
“maigre” frequency rank
#37,924
“migré” frequency rank
46657
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maigre migré
Definition Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. Participe passé masculin singulier de migrer.

Where the eye mixes maigre and migré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maigre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against migré's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
maigre
5 ch
migré

Look-alike desk: maigre vs migré

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maigre is \mɛɡʁ\ while migré is \mi.ɡʁe\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46657, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maigre is recorded at frequency rank #8,733, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛɡʁ\. migré is at rank #37,924, tagged as averb, pronounced \mi.ɡʁe\.

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 46657, this pair ranks #193,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maigre vs migré

Shared letters: gimr. Private to "maigre": ae. Private to "migré": é.

"maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "migré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maigre ← amigre · magire · maiger · maiggre · maigrre · mairge · miagre · mmaigre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maigre" and "migré" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maigre" is an adjective and "migré" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maigre" or "migré"?
"maigre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,733 in our French list, against #37,924 for "migré". 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 "maigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "migré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #193,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maigre" and "migré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magret vs migré". 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 #193,210 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