Which to use
“outré” is an adjective and “ouvre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,424
- “outré” frequency rank
- #1,369
- “ouvre” frequency rank
- 26793
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outré | ouvre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est excessif, exagéré, qui passe les bornes prescrites par la raison. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de ouvrir. |
Where the eye mixes outré and ouvre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: outré vs ouvre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: outré is \u.tʁe\ while ouvre is \uvʁ\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26793, 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\. ouvre is at rank #1,369, tagged as averb, pronounced \uvʁ\.
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 26793, this pair ranks #332,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of outré vs ouvre
Shared letters: oru. Private to "outré": té. Private to "ouvre": ev.
"outré" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "ouvre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ouvre ← ourve · ouver · ouvrre · ouvvre · ovure · uovre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "outré" and "ouvre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "outré" or "ouvre"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "outré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "outré" and "ouvre" 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 #332,835 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.