outréevsoutrésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“outrée” and “outrés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,919
“outrée” frequency rank
#46,329
“outrés” frequency rank
86248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature outrée outrés
Definition Féminin singulier de outré. Masculin pluriel de outré.

Same sound, different letters: outrée vs outrés

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. outrée (VVCCVV) and outrés (VVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
outrée
6 ch
outrés

Homophone desk: outrée vs outrés

This is the hard kind. outrée and outrés are pronounced identically (\ut.ʁe\) 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 a single letter - e in “outrée” becomes s in “outrés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

outrée is recorded at frequency rank #39,919, classified as anadj, pronounced \ut.ʁe\. outrés is at rank #46,329, 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 86248, this pair ranks #10,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of outrée vs outrés

Shared letters: ortué. Private to "outrée": e. Private to "outrés": s.

"outrée" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVV  ·  "outrés" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "outrée" and "outrés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ut.ʁe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "outrée" vs "outrés" - which ranks higher?
"outrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,919 in our French list, against #46,329 for "outrés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "outrée" / "outrés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "outrée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "outrés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "outrée" and "outrés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ogres vs outrés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,007 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list