opèrevsordreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: opère is a verb, ordre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“opère” is a verb and “ordre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,899
“opère” frequency rank
#419
“ordre” frequency rank
9318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opère ordre
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de opérer. Arrangement raisonné et logique, disposition régulière des choses les unes par rapport aux autres.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set opère and ordre apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
opère
5 ch
ordre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: opère is \ɔ.pɛʁ\ while ordre is \ɔʁdʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opère is recorded at frequency rank #8,899, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔ.pɛʁ\. ordre is at rank #419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁdʁ\.

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 9318, this pair ranks #417,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of opère vs ordre

Shared letters: eor. Private to "opère": . Private to "ordre": d.

"opère" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "ordre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ordreodrre · orddre · ordrre · orrde · orrdre · rodre

Frequency comparison

opère#8,899
ordre#419

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "opère" and "ordre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "opère" is a verb and "ordre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "opère" or "ordre"?
"ordre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #419 in our French list, against #8,899 for "opère". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering opère vs ordre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “opère”; for a noun, it's “ordre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “opère” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list