Which to use
“ordre” is a noun and “outré” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #419
- “ordre” frequency rank
- #25,424
- “outré” frequency rank
- 25843
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ordre | outré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arrangement raisonné et logique, disposition régulière des choses les unes par rapport aux autres. | Qui est excessif, exagéré, qui passe les bornes prescrites par la raison. |
Where the eye mixes ordre and outré
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ordre with outré
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ordre is \ɔʁdʁ\ 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 25843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ordre is recorded at frequency rank #419, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁdʁ\. 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 25843, this pair ranks #338,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ordre vs outré
Shared letters: or. Private to "ordre": de. Private to "outré": tué.
"ordre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "outré" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ordre ← odrre · orddre · ordrre · orrde · orrdre · rodre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ordre" for "outré" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ordre" vs "outré" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ordre" 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 #338,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ordre" 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 #338,553 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.