Which to use
“outré” and “outrée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,424
- “outré” frequency rank
- #39,919
- “outrée” frequency rank
- 65343
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outré | outrée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est excessif, exagéré, qui passe les bornes prescrites par la raison. | Féminin singulier de outré. |
Same sound, different letters: outré vs outrée
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. outré runs 5 letters (VVCCV) against outrée's 6 (VVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - outré and outrée
This is the hard kind. outré and outrée are pronounced identically (\u.tʁe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “outré” sits inside “outrée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
outré is recorded at frequency rank #25,424, classified as anadj, pronounced \u.tʁe\. outrée is at rank #39,919, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ut.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 65343, this pair ranks #72,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of outré vs outrée
Shared letters: ortué. Private to "outré": -. Private to "outrée": e.
"outré" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "outrée" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "outré" and "outrée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "outré" or "outrée" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "outré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outrée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "outré" and "outrée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outrée vs outrés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,817 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.