Which to use
“neige” is a noun and “nuire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,290
- “neige” frequency rank
- #7,468
- “nuire” frequency rank
- 9758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neige | nuire |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Causer du tort ; porter dommage à quelque chose ou à quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes neige and nuire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. neige and nuire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: neige vs nuire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neige is \nɛʒ\ while nuire is \nɥiʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9758, 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\. nuire is at rank #7,468, tagged as averb, pronounced \nɥiʁ\.
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 9758, this pair ranks #415,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of neige vs nuire
Shared letters: ein. Private to "neige": g. Private to "nuire": ru.
"neige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "nuire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "neige" for "nuire" ever safe?
Frequency check: "neige" vs "nuire" - which ranks higher?
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 "neige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nuire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,521 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neige" and "nuire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nuire vs nuitée". 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 #415,521 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.