Which to use
“neige” is a noun and “neue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,290
- “neige” frequency rank
- #44,599
- “neue” frequency rank
- 46889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neige | neue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme de pluie cristalline se produisant lorsque la température descend en dessous de 0 °C, les gouttes d’eau s’étant transformées en flocons blancs et légers. | Accusatif pluriel (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison forte de neu. |
Where the eye mixes neige and neue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. neige runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against neue's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses neige with neue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neige is \nɛʒ\ while neue is \ˈnɔɪ̯ə\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
neige is recorded at frequency rank #2,290, classified as anoun, pronounced \nɛʒ\. neue is at rank #44,599, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈnɔɪ̯ə\.
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 46889, this pair ranks #191,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of neige vs neue
Shared letters: en. Private to "neige": gi. Private to "neue": u.
"neige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "neue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "neige" and "neue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "neige" or "neue" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "neige" and "neue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "neige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "neue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #191,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neige" and "neue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neue vs noués". 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 #191,246 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.