pigvspigeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,600
“pig” frequency rank
#15,717
“pige” frequency rank
59317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pig pige
Definition Sanglier, n’importe quelle espèce appartenant au genre Sus. Longueur arbitraire, prise comme référence, petite branche transformée en instrument de mesure que le jardinier utilise pour planter de façon régulière.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pig and pige apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pig
4 ch
pige

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pig (\pɪɡ\) and pige (\piʒ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “pig” sits inside “pige”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pig is recorded at frequency rank #43,600, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɪɡ\. pige is at rank #15,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced \piʒ\.

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 59317, this pair ranks #103,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pig vs pige

Shared letters: gip. Private to "pig": -. Private to "pige": e.

"pig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pige" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pigeipge · pgie · pieg · pigge · ppige

Frequency comparison

pig#43,600
pige#15,717

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pig" and "pige" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɪɡ\ versus \piʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pig" or "pige"?
"pige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,717 in our French list, against #43,600 for "pig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pig vs pige

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pig” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list