Which to use
“ocre” and “onde” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,110
- “ocre” frequency rank
- #6,324
- “onde” frequency rank
- 32434
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ocre | onde |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Argile friable de couleur jaune, rouge ou brune suivant les oxydes, en particulier l’hydroxyde de fer et parfois d’oxyde de manganèse, qu’elle contient. | Ondulations d’un milieu élastique ou d’un flux électromagnétique. Perturbation d’un milieu qui se propage. |
Where the eye mixes ocre and onde
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ocre vs onde
A purely visual mix-up. ocre (\ɔkʁ\) and onde (\ɔ̃d\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ocre is recorded at frequency rank #26,110, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔkʁ\. onde is at rank #6,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ̃d\.
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 32434, this pair ranks #297,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ocre vs onde
Shared letters: eo. Private to "ocre": cr. Private to "onde": dn.
"ocre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "onde" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ocre" and "onde" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ocre" or "onde"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ocre" and "onde" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ocre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "onde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ocre" and "onde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "och vs ocre". 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 #297,309 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.