pègrevspeséeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#41,988
“pègre” frequency rank
#33,826
“pesée” frequency rank
75814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pègre pesée
Definition Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. Action de peser.

Where the eye mixes pègre and pesée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pègre (CVCCV) and pesée (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
pègre
5 ch
pesée

Why the eye confuses pègre with pesée

A purely visual mix-up. pègre (\pɛɡʁ\) and pesée (\pə.ze\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75814, 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\. pesée is at rank #33,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pə.ze\.

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 75814, this pair ranks #32,935 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pègre vs pesée

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pègre": grè. Private to "pesée": sé.

"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pesée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pègre" for "pesée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛɡʁ\ versus \pə.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pègre" vs "pesée" - which ranks higher?
"pesée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,826 in our French list, against #41,988 for "pègre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pègre" and "pesée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pègre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pesée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,935 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pègre" and "pesée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pègre vs Perl". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #32,935 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