Which to use
“ombre” is a noun and “outré” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,488
- “ombre” frequency rank
- #25,424
- “outré” frequency rank
- 27912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ombre | outré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obscurité relative que cause un corps opaque en interceptant la lumière. | Qui est excessif, exagéré, qui passe les bornes prescrites par la raison. |
Where the eye mixes ombre and outré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ombre (VCCCV) and outré (VVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between ombre and outré
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ombre is \ɔ̃bʁ\ while outré is \u.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ombre is recorded at frequency rank #2,488, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ̃bʁ\. outré is at rank #25,424, tagged as anadj, pronounced \u.tʁe\.
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 27912, this pair ranks #325,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ombre vs outré
Shared letters: or. Private to "ombre": bem. Private to "outré": tué.
"ombre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "outré" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ombre ← mobre · obmre · ombbre · omber · ombrre · ommbre · omrbe
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ombre" and "outré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ombre" or "outré"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ombre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ombre" and "outré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outré vs outrés". 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 #325,997 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.