Which to use
“onze” is an adjective and “orée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,783
- “onze” frequency rank
- #28,671
- “orée” frequency rank
- 32454
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | onze | orée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dix plus un, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 11. | Le bord, la lisière d’un bois. |
Where the eye mixes onze and orée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between onze and orée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: onze is ^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃z\ while orée is \ɔ.ʁe\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
onze is recorded at frequency rank #3,783, classified as anadj, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔ̃z\. orée is at rank #28,671, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁe\.
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 32454, this pair ranks #297,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of onze vs orée
Shared letters: eo. Private to "onze": nz. Private to "orée": ré.
"onze" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "orée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- onze ← noze · onez · onnze · onzze
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "onze" and "orée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "onze" vs "orée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "onze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "orée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "onze" and "orée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orée vs OSCE". 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 #297,175 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.