Which to use
“pègre” and “pitre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,988
- “pègre” frequency rank
- #24,326
- “pitre” frequency rank
- 66314
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pègre | pitre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catégorie des gens sans aveu qui vivent de friponnerie ou d’escroquerie. | Acteur populaire chargé d’amuser la foule amassée autour des tréteaux d’un charlatan, par des grimaces et de grosses plaisanteries. |
Where the eye mixes pègre and pitre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pègre and pitre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pègre with pitre
A purely visual mix-up. pègre (\pɛɡʁ\) and pitre (\pitʁ\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66314, 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\. pitre is at rank #24,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pitʁ\.
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 66314, this pair ranks #68,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pègre vs pitre
Shared letters: epr. Private to "pègre": gè. Private to "pitre": it.
"pègre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pitre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pitre ← iptre · pirte · piter · pitrre · pittre · ppitre · ptire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pègre" for "pitre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pègre" vs "pitre" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pègre" and "pitre" 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 "pitre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pègre" and "pitre" 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 #68,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.