Which to use
“ongle” and “orgue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,778
- “ongle” frequency rank
- #11,452
- “orgue” frequency rank
- 29230
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ongle | orgue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lame dure, cornée, translucide, qui revêt le dessus du bout des doigts et des orteils. | Instrument de musique à vent, à clavier et à pédalier, composé de tuyaux de différentes sortes et de différentes grandeurs, alimentés d’air par des soufflets et que l’on fait résonner en appuyant sur les touches d’un ou de plusieurs claviers. |
Where the eye mixes ongle and orgue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ongle vs orgue
A purely visual mix-up. ongle (\ɔ̃ɡl\) and orgue (\ɔʁɡ\) 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 29230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ongle is recorded at frequency rank #17,778, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ̃ɡl\. orgue is at rank #11,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁɡ\.
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 29230, this pair ranks #317,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ongle vs orgue
Shared letters: ego. Private to "ongle": ln. Private to "orgue": ru.
"ongle" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "orgue" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ongle" for "orgue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ongle" vs "orgue" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ongle" and "orgue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ongle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "orgue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ongle" and "orgue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ondulé vs ongle". 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 #317,947 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.