Which to use
“pègre” is a noun and “piètre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,988
- “pègre” frequency rank
- #18,828
- “piètre” frequency rank
- 60816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pègre | piètre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. | Qui est mesquin, chétif ou insignifiant. |
Where the eye mixes pègre and piètre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pègre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against piètre's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pègre and piètre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pègre is \pɛɡʁ\ while piètre is \pjɛtʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60816, 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\. piètre is at rank #18,828, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pjɛtʁ\.
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 60816, this pair ranks #95,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pègre vs piètre
Shared letters: eprè. Private to "pègre": g. Private to "piètre": it.
"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "piètre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pègre" for "piètre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pègre" or "piètre"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pègre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piètre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pègre" and "piètre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pègre vs Perl". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #95,613 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.