Which to use
“pièce” and “pitre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #852
- “pièce” frequency rank
- #24,326
- “pitre” frequency rank
- 25178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pièce | pitre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacun des éléments d’un ensemble défini. → voir pièce détachée, de toutes pièces, juger sur pièces, pièce à pièce et pièce par pièce | 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 pièce and pitre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pièce (CVVCV) and pitre (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: pièce vs pitre
A purely visual mix-up. pièce (\pjɛs\) 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 25178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pièce is recorded at frequency rank #852, classified as anoun, pronounced \pjɛs\. 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 25178, this pair ranks #342,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pièce vs pitre
Shared letters: eip. Private to "pièce": cè. Private to "pitre": rt.
"pièce" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pitre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pitre ← iptre · pirte · piter · pitrre · pittre · ppitre · ptire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pièce" for "pitre" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pièce" or "pitre" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pièce" and "pitre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pièce" 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 #342,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pièce" and "pitre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Piotr vs pitre". 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 #342,336 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.