Which to use
“pègre” and “peigne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,988
- “pègre” frequency rank
- #19,363
- “peigne” frequency rank
- 61351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pègre | peigne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. | Instrument de buis, de corne, d’ivoire, de plastique, etc., qui est taillé en forme de dents et qui sert à démêler et à arranger les cheveux et la barbe. |
Where the eye mixes pègre and peigne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pègre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against peigne's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pègre vs peigne
A purely visual mix-up. pègre (\pɛɡʁ\) and peigne (\pɛɲ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pègre is recorded at frequency rank #41,988, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛɡʁ\. peigne is at rank #19,363, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛɲ\.
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 61351, this pair ranks #92,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pègre vs peigne
Shared letters: egp. Private to "pègre": rè. Private to "peigne": in.
"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "peigne" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- peigne ← epigne · pegine · peigen · peiggne · peignne · peinge · piegne · ppeigne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pègre" and "peigne" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pègre" or "peigne" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pègre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "peigne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pègre" and "peigne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pègre vs Perl". 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 #92,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.